Hiraeth
by Angstcannon
Summary: Hiraeth: (n.) A homesickness for a place that you cannot return to. A young man is thrown from his life into a world wrought with danger, with his home in ruins, a superpowered murderer on his tail, and a responsibility he never wished for thrust upon him, he must overcome the evils of two colliding worlds if he is to survive.
1. Prologue

Prologue

There are many constants throughout the universe.

Some constants are simple, such as the assurance of death after life, and life after death.  
An endless cycle that knows no end, many dread this cycle, others welcome it, but all know it as a means to an end for themselves. Which leads us to our next constant,

The end.

Everything comes to end one way or another, be it life, love, safety. None of these things Last forever.

Despite what one has done in life, be it good or bad, be they a saint or a sinner, sooner or later, it will all come to a close.

Until it doesn't

Imagine having power, power beyond your wildest dreams, and yet, no reasoning behind why you have it. Many love you for your power, drawn lustfully toward it like moths to an open flame. Others loathe you for your power, seeking your destruction simply because your power outmatches theirs.

And yet, you have yet to find purpose.

Others teach you how to cultivate your power, how to control it and make it work for you.

And yet, you have yet to find purpose.

You gain the adoration of others, they see you as their future,

And yet, you have yet to find purpose.

You work tirelessly with your power, intent on making it the best it could possibly be, and more.  
Others respect you, as they should.

You push the boundaries of all your kind knows, intent on knowing more, gaining more, becoming more powerful with each growing second.

Your kind grows fearful

You ignore their pleas for restraint, you ignore them to the point where lives are taken in your quest for more.

And then,

The love turns to envy,

They hate you now,

They all hate you,

They hate your power.

They force you out, and your hate begins to grow, you hate, and hate and hate them for shunning you when you should be a king amongst them.

A God amongst them.

You find your purpose,

You must have more,

You must show them how wrong they are.

You must have more power.

You discard their teachings, nothing but the lies of senile old reptiles.

Meant to hold you back.

You tap into all the power within you until it fills your mind, permeates your body, and envelops your very soul.

You want more.

You raise an army, they will help you find more.

You fight.

You lose.

You are locked away

Your body is trapped, but your mind still wakes,

Your power still churns within you

You reach out with your power

You find more puppets, using your power to warp minds and bodies.

You make them hunt for the one meant to stop you

Millions perish in your name.

Your finest puppet frees you, despite the best efforts of many

You return,

You raise an army once more, ready for anything those worthless creatures will throw at you.

You fight, thousands more perish.

But the one meant to stop you still lives.

He fights your armies

He frees your puppet

She turns against you

They both fight you

You fight back,

You lose once more

No

NO

NONONONONONONO

You cannot be defeated!

You are eternal!

You are locked deep within the planet by the two saviors.

In your hatred, you collapse all that you built to kill them,

They survive.

Three years pass and your mind and soul are left to wander, you cannot leave this time.

Your body is gone.

But your mind,

Your soul,

Your power still remains.

Your armies have fallen, those still loyal to you scattered.

You spread your power across worlds, looking for an army.

And much, much more.

You find a race similar to your last army,

You watch them

You watch their history

Hate, lust, greed, wrath, gluttony, sloth, envy.\

They show it all

They will do nicely,

You whisper in the ears of many, many fall under your control,

You sense a power within some,

A dormant power, not used or needed for many centuries.

Some are born with a closer connection, they are easier to control But you can sense two unlike the rest

Strong enough to resist

Strong enough to serve as a replacement.

You send a wisp of your power, untainted by you into each. Seeing how their souls react.

You make plans to enslave this world as you will your own

You choose one and prepare to deal with the other

Your plans are laid,

You need simply wait as they grow, unaware of the power within them.

You are now ready, your strongest champion now heeds your call

You must deal with the other one.

You will.

You will return

You will show them why you are not to be trifled with

You will wipe those worthless, disgusting race of dragons off the face of Avalar

It will be yours, just as Earth will soon be.

But first, you must leave.

Your name is Malefor

And you will be free once more. 


	2. Chapter 1: A Short Drop

**Chapter 1: A short drop.**

Death is not a pleasant experience, trust me when I say that.

I lay there as my would-be murderer withdrew the knife from my shoulder, his partners-in-crime quickly returning to the unmarked van they had attacked us from. My home lies in flames behind me, sending ashes that danced through the winter air. I could hear sirens in the distance.

"You have no idea how lucky you are, man."

I look up at him, tears and desperate, choked sobs being the only things I'm able to respond to him with at this point. He only smiled in return, his grin holding a psychotic twinge to it that I was sure could only happen in movies.

" I mean, sure your family's dead, kind of a bummer, but really, the tradeoff here is great!"

He squatted down, making sure to lock eyes with me, and I manage to quit my panicked cries long enough to finally get a good look at him. He was surprisingly young, couldn't have been older than me. Though he was clearly a bit taller than me, he looked about as unordinary as grass. Short black hair, Caucasian, brown eyes, and a face that screamed modern gamer. His eyes studied me with fervorous curiosity, smiling disturbingly warmly as I stared hatefully back looking at myself mirrored in his eyes.

I didn't look much different than him, I was smaller, brown hair, green eyes, different facial structure.

"Oh c'mon man, don't act like you haven't made even a single obligatory 'I want to die' post. This is 2018, we are Gen Z, something like this was gonna end up happening sooner or later."

I growl, trying to look at least somewhat threatening. My attacker didn't flinch, only chuckling slightly as he tossed his knife over his shoulder.

"Oh, you have no idea, Aran, no idea what he's got planned for the two of us."

Suddenly, he grabs me by the collar, somehow lifting me up with a single hand as he continues to talk.

"Now, I know what you're thinking, 'uh, oh, classic bad guy monologue, let me get my earplugs'

Well, allow me to break the mold."

I scream as he shoves his hand through my chest, his arm sparking with a strange purple energy. I desperately clawed at him, trying to find some way to make him stop. Until finally, he removes his hand, and I fall limply to the ground. Somehow still conscious.

"Jesus, that was edgy," he chuckled once more. "Yeah, sorry about that, for some reason or another the boss doesn't want you in top shape when you make the trip. If it were up to me, I would have just set the portal up and Sparta-kicked you into it."

I lay there still, unable to move, or breathe for that matter. Purple light snakes across my vision as a strange noise split the air. It sounded like putting ice in a frying pan. The light steadily growing brighter as the noise grew louder. Eventually reaching a dull roar as the purple light threatened to outshine the flames of my home. The murderer grabs me by the hood of my jacket, slowly dragging me closer to the light.

"Whoo boy, that took a lot outta me." He grunts, I notice a slight distortion to his voice as he speaks. As if someone with a deeper voice was talking over him.

"Gotta say, power has its price."

He lifts me up once more, allowing me to lock eyes with him once more. His eyes now glow a dark purple, and his hand is crisscrossed with veins of a similar color and glow. He smiles maniacally.

"As much as I've enjoyed this one-sided conversation, we need to get this show on the road. I, unfortunately, won't be coming with you, the boss wants me here to oversee operations here for a wee bit longer. So, I suppose you should be leaving. "

He moves to throw me.

"WAIT wait wait,"

He stops in his tracks.

"What kind of villain would I be if I didn't introduce myself?"

He brings me close, whispering in my ear.

"Name's Thomas Klein. Nice to finally meet ya."

He throws me,

And instantly, my world is turned to black.

 _Author's Note:_

Ok, so, I'm not gonna lie here. I have no idea how this whole thing is gonna go. But, seeing as how this is my first story, I'm going to let this play out and see where it goes.

No planned update schedule, not sure if I'm gonna have one

However, I've been brainstorming a lot over this story, it'll take some love but I have high hopes.

I'm completely open to criticism btw, destroy me.

Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 2: A Sudden Stop

**Chapter 2:** **A Sudden Stop.**

I groaned, feeling weightless as I spiraled into oblivion.

Was this what it was like to die?

It was as quiet as I had thought it would be.

But, shouldn't I _not_ be able to think straight? I was dead, I shouldn't be able to think, _period!_

I mean, it would make sense if I was dead, but I didn't feel dead, I actually still "felt," to be completely honest, I could still feel the pain from the wound in my chest, though it had numbed somewhat. I could feel cold air rushing around me, whispering by my ears as if I were a bullet fired by a gun.

It was then that I realized that I was in fact not dead, but in fact, had my eyes closed. I open them and get a good view of my situation. I saw nothing but the clear sky above me and a rapidly approaching forest below me.

I was falling,

I wished I had kept my eyes closed.

"BALLS!"

I screamed for what feels like the millionth time today, flailing madly as I hurtle toward the ground,

"OH GOD NO!"

I'm almost to the ground, funny how I thought I might've lived through this. I screwed my eyes shut again and braced myself, hoping I hit headfirst so I at least don't die in agony. When a gust of wind blows by me.

"Got you!"

I yelped, feeling something sharp grip my ankle, yanking me up into the air and away from the jaws of death yet again. I would have been thankful, but I was a little to busy dealing with comprehending what had just happened. I looked around me, noticing that I was bobbing up and down, hanging by whatever was holding my ankle. Only then did I notice the sound. The sound of...

Wingbeats?

"God, you're heavy!"

I looked up at what was holding me.

...

. has stopped working.

...

I slap myself, that isn't real, that can't be real. There is not a chance in hell _that_ could possibly exist and had just talked to me.

It was a dragon. An honest to God dragon, carrying me. The creature was easily my size, if not a bit bigger, and carried me with two of its four feet. Its build was slender but muscular, similar to what one would expect from the build of a panther. If a panther had wings and was covered in blue and green scales. The dragon turned its horned head, watching me intently with bright blue eyes and an amused smile.

"You done staring, Aran?" The dragon spoke in a clearly female voice, carrying a bit of mirth in her tone.

She knew my name, why did she know my name?

"G-guh, b-buh." I stammer, trying to find some sort of logic in the absolutely ludicrous situation I was in. I was chucked into some sort of portal by a superpowered maniac, sent hundreds of feet in the air, and saved from death by a dragon.

If I was dead, then this was one hell of an afterlife.

"I'll take that as a yes." She chuckled, " Let me get you down, just need to find a good landing place, maybe… _there!"_

"Aaah!"

I felt the claws release my ankle, causing me to fall headfirst into the branches of a tree. I fell through the tree, smacking into every possible branch on my way down before landing face-first on the ground. Covered in scrapes and bruises.

"Oh, ****!"

I hear the frantic wingbeats of the dragon as she quickly lands in front of me. Landing on all four legs and immediately running. Within seconds she is at my side, checking over me in a panic.

"Oh crap, I am so sorry, I saw a cliff that I could have dropped you safely off on and I might've... let go a little to point at it, sorry… again. Are you alright? Any broken bones? How many claws am I holding up?"

I give a panicked shout and manage to get into a sitting position, quickly scooting away from the massive reptile, eventually hitting the tree, I immediately stand and put it between me and her.

"What the hell!?" I blurt out in a panic, "Who the hell are you? Where the hell am I?! Why the hell am I?!"

The dragon looks at me, her expression changing from concern to a slightly more annoyed expression. Looking at me with a with what I can only attribute to the dragon equivalent of a raised eyebrow.

She shook her head, raising a claw to it. "Should've seen Q&A coming…" she muttered to herself.

"Well, to start with, my name is Nara, I'm a dragon."

I don't move a muscle. Trying as hard as I can to maintain my composure as I… hide behind a tree and shake like a leaf.

"As for where, we're in the valley of Avalar, not sure of our exact location though, and I'm gonna chalk up that last question to shock, which you're clearly experiencing at the moment. So, if we're done here?" She sits on her haunches and digs around in a satchel I hadn't noticed her wearing, eventually producing a roll of what I assume are bandages and a strange substance in a bottle.

"Can I please treat your wounds?"

I quietly ponder my options from behind the tree, I could try to run, and, assuming she doesn't catch and eat me for pissing her off, I would be lost in the woods of whatever this 'Avalar' place is. This dragon, Nara, seems to care about me for some reason or another, which brings the question of how exactly she knows me. I disappear behind the tree.

"How do you know me? I ask, "Who am I to you?"

Nara sighs, dropping the bandages on the ground before standing up once more and slowly approaching the tree.

"Look, if I don't treat those wounds, they are going to get infected and you are going to die a slow, painful death, seeing as how I spent all that effort trying to prevent that. I would appreciate a little trust. I'll tell you everything I know afterward, okay? "

I hesitated, still wary of the mythical creature in front of me as she attempts to appear as friendly as possible, smiling kindly at me before turning and walking back to the medical supplies she had placed on the ground.

"Please?" She looked at me, smiling hopefully.

Looking into the forest once more, I eventually decided to come out, warily approaching the dragon as she immediately perked up and quickly walks up to me..

"Thank you, it's been a while since I've done something like this, so hopefully cheetah medicine works the same for humans as it does for them, take your top off please."

Cheetah?

I shifted uncomfortably, not happy with the concept of having animal medicine used on me. And of course, lifting my shirt up to find a hole in my chest.

Nara frowned, looking at me with concern, " I can't do anything with the shirt on, you're bleeding heavily, If I don't do this now, it may be too late.

I grumbled to myself and took my shirt off, wincing from the pain and bracing myself to see a huge wound,

"What the f-"

There was no hole, no blood, not even a scar! I open my mouth to say more but grunt as pain lanced through me from my right arm.

My shoulder, however, was a different story. It sent pain through my entire chest I removed the bloodsoaked jacket and T-shirt, revealing a grisly knife wound stretching to the base of my neck to my collarbone. I couldn't see all of it, but from the look on the dragon's face as she examined it. I wasn't all too keen on seeing it. I kneeled, sitting on my knees, and the dragon approached me, sitting all the way down to where she was level with me.

"Right, so this is gonna hurt a little," Nara warns me, using her claws to remove a cork from the bottle of liquid, the smell reaches my nose and I nearly choke from the strength of it, the smell reminding me of vinegar mixed with mint.

Gently, she moves the bottle over the wound and gently pours some on the cut. The resulting pain causes me to jump, hissing through my clenched teeth as I try to wait out the pain, the dragoness then takes a cloth from her bag and cleans the wound. I shift uncomfortably as she goes about her work. Wrapping the bandages around my arm and armpit to cover the wound.

This didn't make any sense, I should be dead, Klein had shoved his hand through my _chest_ , not only was that metal as Galvanized steel. But it should have been physically impossible. I remember that glow in his eyes, in his veins, what was he?

I groaned, wincing more as the dragon finishes bandaging my shoulder and lightly dabs my other wounds with another cloth soaked in the substance from the bottle.

Meanwhile, I try to understand what exactly has happened to me, why I was suddenly on a planet that that could only be accurately described as a fantasy novel. My mind wanders, looking at my surroundings once again, the forest was deep, to the point that only thin rays of light filtered through the tree branches. I noticed the lack of cold and realized that every tree in the forest did not show even a speck of decay on any of the leaves. It had been winter the last time I checked.

"Is it spring?" I ask

"Yes," She replies "why do you ask?"

"You said this place was called Avalar, right?"

"The valley, yeah."

"Where is Avalar on a map?"

"What do you mean?"

"I've never heard of anywhere on Earth called Avalar, then again I've never seen a dragon either." I laugh to myself.

"Earth…...yeah, uh, about that."

My eyes widen.

"Tell me we're on Earth."

She didn't respond.

"We're on Earth, right?!"

"No."

I sat there in silence, stunned. I wasn't on Earth, this… Klein guy sent me to another ****ing planet?!

My thoughts shifted to my home, to my family,

I nearly collapsed, surprising Nara as I scrambled to my feet and puked in a nearby bush, retching as grief slowly set in. I hadn't even had a chance to say goodbye before Klein and his goons murdered my entire family and left them to burn. My Mom, my Dad, and my older brother were gone, I would never see them again.

I groaned in between sporadic patches of retching, tears leaked from my eyes as I waited for the sick feeling in my stomach to wear off, I couldn't remember the specifics. The last thing I could remember in detail after they attacked my home was Klein holding me down with a knife in my shoulder.

I did remember screaming, gunfire, and bodies, more than just my family's. Apparently, Dad and Will hadn't gone down without a fight.

My Dad had been a vet, and from what he told me, he had seen a lot while on tour. My brother had just finished his three years and was planning on starting college with me. My mom, she had been one of the most supportive and caring people I had ever meant, they didn't deserve to die, not like that. They had all been the most important people in my life. I did a lot to make them proud, it didn't seem like it did much good now. My home was gone, my family was gone, my _life_ was gone for Christ' sake!

I feel a clawed hand gently rest on my shoulder,

"Aran,"

I swat the hand away in a fit of panic before realizing it was just Nara again, standing there with a sympathetic expression on her face.

She seemed to know me for some reason or another, she seemed to care for me as well. I didn't have the slightest idea who she was, why she was helping me or why she cared at all, she was all I had now.

I turn around, done with my little episode but still feeling terrible.

"Oh! Uh, sorry, I guess I might've interrupted you." I say, breaking eye contact with her, I return to the tree, leaning against it

"It's fine," she replied, "I was done for the most part anyway."

She looked at me, obviously still concerned.

"What happened to you?"

I whirled around to face her, my face a mask of suspicion.

"Why do you even care?"

She hesitated for a moment, clearly conflicted about something.

She looked down, as if ashamed.

"I'm a bit of mercenary, " she eventually explained, the scales under her eyes slightly darkening in color. "Not in the traditional sense, but I've done my fair share of work in that regard. I got a description of you and where you might've ended up. Lucky for me I managed to show up at the right time."

"But why do you _care?_ You don't know me! We're not even the same species and you instantly help me like it was nothing! You're not just in this for the money, I don't know why you're doing this, but I'm no one to you! "

She looked up at me, her eyes narrowing, " Would you rather I leave you here to die? I'm helping you like I am because I'm a decent person."

She looked away from me again, clearly upset. I opened my mouth to say more but immediately bit my tongue. I was pushing away the only person that may ever show me any kind of kindness in Avalar so far, she was the only person so far, but, still.

"I'm sorry," I said, sitting back down." I'm just a little spooked, it's been a stressful day."

She looked back to me, studying me for a moment longer before expression becomes neutral.

"It's fine, I would be the same way."

She stood up, stretching herself like a cat would before walking off to collect the medical supplies, placing them back in her satchel. I remained silent, catching my breath as I listen to the wind blow through the trees, causing them to ripple like the waves of a vast green ocean. After a few seconds, I heard the dragoness approach me once more. Moving to sit down beside me.

"You said that someone paid you," I asked, "are there other humans here? As in, _anywhere on this planet_?"

She shook her head "Not that I know of."

"Then who would-"

"I don't know." She said, cutting me off, " all I know is that I need to escort you to the city of Warfang and protect you for the foreseeable future."

"O-okay, what then?"

She shrugged, " I was paid and contacted through a series of anonymous notes. I assume once we get back to my home in the city I'll be contacted again. "

I raise an eyebrow. "Seems a little shady."

She pauses, looking off into the forest.

"Yeah, I guess it does, but, when you have only yourself to look out for you, you tend to not be picky about where the gems come from."

She stood to her full height,

"We need to get moving, there's a cheetah village not far from here, I've done them a few favors so the chief should allow us to spend a few nights there."

She gestured for me to follow her with a claw, sighing, I stand as well, wincing as a soreness spreads throughout my body from the events of the day thus far. Whoever Nara was, she was the best bet I had to survive. Even if I did feel like she wasn't being one hundred percent honest with me. She knew her way around Avalar at the very least and happened to be a giant reptile with enough natural weaponry to put most earth predators to shame.

Wherever this 'Warfang' place was, it might hold some answers as to what exactly was happening.

"Lead on," I said, putting on a fake smile, she smiled in return, and began to walk through the forest.

"Avalar, why does that sound familiar?" I muttered to myself. I brushed it off and picked up the pace, catching up enough to walk beside her.

"So," Nara turned her head to look at me. "What actually did happen to you?"

My thoughts turned back to that moment painful as it was, searching through my memories, the overall situation was still cloudy in my mind for one reason or another.

"Well, I'm not really sure."

Authors Note:

This is more or less the length that I'll try to make each chapter for the majority of the time. Some may be longer, some may be shorter.

I'm glad to see some people are actually liking my story.

May try to do one or two chapters per week, possibly more, time will tell.

Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 3: A Walk in the Woods

Chapter 3: A Walk In The Woods

I followed Nara as she cut her way through the woods, slicing shrubs, vines, and other small plants out of her way with her claws as if they were no more than blades of grass. For an alien planet, this place was very similar to Earth, the trees were as just green and tall. Birds just like those from home flew overhead, calling to one another just like they would at home. '

Unfortunately, the bugs here were just like the ones back home, too. Mosquito-like insects crowded around me, eagerly biting where they could..

"So, Miss Nara,-" I began

"Just Nara is fine," she interrupted.

"Right, Nara, how far did you say this village was?" I asked, swatting at another one of the bugs. I had been like a Vegas Buffet for the annoying insects the entirety of the time we had been walking, by now, my arms and legs were dotted with bites where they weren't covered in bandages. We had been walking for a day and a half, mostly in silence after what she had heard about my family's murder since then, we had barely talked in the several hours we knew each other, only really communicating when absolutely necessary. She was most likely trying to give me my space, and at this point, I was going to lose my mind if the silence persisted.

"About another day's walk," Responded Nara, earning a groan from me. "There have been a few more springing up all over the valley in recent years, but the closest one is run by a Chief known as Prowlus."

"Prowlus? Not a very original name."

She turned her head to look at me, "What do you mean?"

"Cheetahs are predators," I explain "Predators prowl in order to hunt, naming a Cheetah Prowlus just seems like a redundancy to me."

She raised a scaly eyebrow at my explanation, but shook her head and turned away moments later, continuing to hack at the undergrowth in her path.

"Try not to bring anything like that up when we get there, Prowlus is suspicious enough of Dragons as is, with you in tow, he'll be as irritable as ever, even with all the jobs I take from him."

I listened on as I limped through the forest after her, trying and failing to hide how much pain I was in, the medicine had helped, but as it turns out getting stabbed, dropped out of the sky, and thrown into a tree are not necessarily good for one's health. My shoulder throbbed with every bump and jostle, and a soreness seemed to have settled over my entire body. Causing my every step to result in pain one way or another.

"Suspicious of Dragons?" I grunt,

"He thinks we were the reason for the Dark Master's return four years ago, maybe he was right, maybe not, but ever since the saviors kept the Master's minions from burning down the village, he's been a bit more...lenient."

"Dark Master," I laughed lightly, "you're not being serious, right?"

"Yes, I'm being serious." Replied Nara, "Something about that hard to believe?"

"Kind of," I answer.

Dark master? Saviors? Minions? I was screaming internally, this was something straight out of the depths of J.R Tolkien's mind. Whatever kind of place Avalar was, it certainly had as many differences from Earth as it did similarities.

"Why is that?" Queried the Dragoness, a warning tone entering her voice.

"It's just not something we have that much back on Earth," I explain, "Where I come from, bad guys aren't just laid out on a platter like that, usually they have to do something pretty bad to get a name for themselves, or to be remembered really. Trust me, we have more than our share of Villains, criminals, and general ***holes, but only a select few have ever even come close to being called something like 'The Dark Master.' " I wave my fingers in a spooky gesture as I say the last words.

Nara sighed and turned her head forward,

"Well, unfortunately, the Dark Master was a 'thing' here, he was a monster who butchered millions, if it wasn't for the saviors, Avalar probably wouldn't be doing as well as it is now."

Saviors, I can only imagine what that could mean, could be some benevolent heroes, could also be self-worshipping God-monarchs that will see me as a threat or some other negative thing.

"Guy sounds like a real piece of work," I comment, stepping into a small stream with an annoyed sigh.

"He was, lucky for us he's dead."

"The Saviors?"

"Yep," Replied Nara, nodding her head.

I hum to myself, another question already entering my mind.

"These 'saviors,' what are they like?" I ask, my voice quavering a little too much for my liking.

"From what I know, they are two dragons who faced and killed the master in combat, one is a purple dragon with mastery of the four main elements, and the other is his former general, a black dragoness named Cynder," Nara explained, her voice carrying a twinge of venom as she spoke the name.

"The Master's own general turned against him?" I began to walk faster, becoming interested in the topic.

"She was corrupted by his magic from birth, or so the story goes." Nara continued as we passed over another small stream. This one bigger than the last and peeling off to the left of us. Nara turned, following it, and I did the same. "The purple dragon freed her of that curse, returning her free will to her."

I hum in acknowledgment, " And this purple dragon? Is he or she special in some way?"

"It's he, and yes, considering a purple dragon is born once every ten generations."

"Reincarnation, and a master of four elements, interesting, so basically the Dragon Avatar." I laugh to myself silently before hitting her with another question.

"How exactly does he 'control' these elements?"

"Like any dragon would," Nara replied, as if it were obvious.

"It comes in the form of a breath most often, but can also be controlled in other ways as well. In my case, I'm an Earth dragon, I can control the ground beneath our feet, among other things. The other main three elements are fire, Ice, and Electricity. As well as the other smaller elements."

"What do you mean by smaller?"

"Not as well known, not as many Dragons are born with a natural talent for other elements as they are for the main four. There's a couple of them I think."

"Like?" I push, eager to know more.

"Poison," The dragoness said after some thought, pausing slightly as she tried to come up with another one.

" And, Um… Wind! Wind too. I think Darkness was one, was it called darkness?" She sighed, "Ah, I really don't know that much about it all, they could probably tell you in Warfang, I barely go to the city myself so I don't learn all that much."

"I thought you said your home was there?"

"It is, I'm just out on jobs so much that I barely use it."

I shrug, makes sense, It would only be logical for a fantasy city would have mercenaries, images of mercenary guilds full of dragons swam through my thoughts. I smile inwardly at the novelty of the idea.

"Business is that good?"

"Yeah, a lot of Warfang citizens have goods or materials they need, nobles will also pay a good bit for treasures or artifacts to add to their hoard."

I made a mental note that dragons actually did keep hoards.

"Go on," I encouraged

"Sometimes there's the occasional patch of criminals causing trouble in the countryside or some massive animal or monster terrorizing a village. You can really get a good haul of meat from the hunts…" She trailed off, "Well, you get the idea."

I nod politely, "Sounds like an exciting line of work." I comment.

She smiles, "Yeah, definitely better than sitting in a market stand all day. What about you? What did you do before coming here?"

"Basically sat in a market stall all day," I say, rubbing the back of my neck and thinking back to my job in retail back home, the memory somewhat sobering me as the topic of home is brought up once again. Nara noticed my discomfort, cringing at the look on my face, "Sorry."

"Its fine," I reply, "The more I talk about it the easier it'll be to come to terms with it."

We walk in silence for a few moments after the exchange, until the bugs become annoying enough for me to speak again.

I groaned, swatting at another one of them. "Can't you just fly us to this Prowlus guy or something?"

She gave a short laugh, "It would be a two-hour flight by myself. Carrying you? I'd be lucky last five!" "You may be small but God, you must weigh more than me!"

I grumbled slightly at the remark but eventually brushed it off. My thoughts wandering off to this new world. Despite the How was I going to get home? Klein was my only surefire method, and he was still on Earth. So, unless opening portals to other worlds was a common practice in Warfang, I would be stuck here for the foreseeable future. I was homesick already, but it wasn't likely home wouldn't be an option anymore even if I did ever manage to get back to Earth. My family was gone, my house burned down. The friends that I had made likely though I was dead and my parents had never mentioned anything about their families other than that they were long gone, either dead or wanting nothing to do with us.

Still, I couldn't shake the feeling of a hole in me, for me, my family had been everything, we were close-knit, the kind of kinship we had you rarely found nowadays. I still remember the first time my father had taught me and my brother how to fire a gun, I hadn't really taken to it. It was easy enough to learn, and I had become pretty accurate, but there was this strange feeling I had every time I held one, it had made me uneasy. My brother, on the other hand, became pretty skilled with a rifle after a few days of practice, and my dad had always said he had been born a soldier from the start. Despite my mom' protests, he left for the marines when I was twelve, six years later, he had come to visit for a week of furlough, my mom had cried for a solid thirty minutes when he first showed up at the front door, she'd probably be crying now if she could see the state I was in.

We continued to walk for several more hours until finally, dusk settled over the forest canopy. We eventually came upon a small ridge that overlooked the nearby river, the setting sun's race reflecting off its surface and sparkling like diamonds.

"Ok, we should rest here," said Nara, shrugging off her bag and sitting on the ground before lying down near the edge. Looking over at the water and digging through her bag, she pulled out her and opened the top of it, lifting it to her lips and taking a few gulps before tossing the emptied canteen to me. I barely catch it before she stands once more and begins to walk to the treeline.

"Refill that and drink it all, refill it again once you're done with it. I'll be over here gathering firewood."

I nodded solemnly walking down the ridge and approaching the riverbank, I dunked the canteen in the water, holding it there until the escaped air stopped bubbling to the surface, I immediately brought the water to my own lips, gulping down the water greedily as small streams of it ran down my chin. I emptied it after a few moments, gasping slightly and wiping the water on my sleeve before dunking it once again. I stood, canteen in hand before noticing a strange plant on the bank not far from me, it was big, almost as tall as me.

I approached it, studying it further, the main body itself was bulbous, supported by loose-looking purple roots. The body extended into what looked like a bulb of some sort, except the front part opened up into a cavity from which a long, wet-looking stem emerged from it. On either side of the head, two purple insect-like 'branches' extended out wide. It faced the water, swaying in the wind. Interested, I warily approached it to observe it further..

"Aran!" Nara's voice called out from behind me and I turned my head to face her.

"Yeah?"

I wouldn't-"

"Shff!"

I whirled back around to find the plant was now facing me, somehow closer than before.

"Aran," Nara warned

Suddenly the wet stem shot forward, smacking me in the face with surprising force. I yelped in surprise and fell on my butt before wiping my face.

"What in the-"

"SMACK!"

Another slap, this one harder, I growled in pain and began to scramble away from the plant. I look up at it, trying to regain my senses and understand exactly what had just happened. The plant's tongue-like stem retracted, whipping around before returning to its original length. Then the plant shuddered, removing its roots from the ground and jumping towards me!

At this point, there was only one word that came to mind.

"CRAP!"

Author's Note:

Wow, that one took a sec to get out, gotta love finals week.

I'll probably have to try a bit harder to update when I can, I should have another chapter after this out by the end of the week, but no promises.

Thanks again for reading and have a great day! Or evening… or, whatever time it is where you are. 


	5. Chapter 4: Weed-Killer and Nightmares

**Chapter 4:**

 **SLAP!**

"CHRIST!"

I shout as the plant's tongue strikes me once again, sending me reeling back as I attempt to regain my footing.

"Yeah, you might wanna look out for that." Called Nara from her perch on the ridge, "They start to really sting after a while."

"REALLY?!" I turn to face her, quite visibly pissed. " And here I thought it was going to f***ing tickle me!"

I turn back around and receive another tongue-punch to the face, throwing me back and knocking me on my butt as Nara laughs, clearly amused by the spectacle.

"I wouldn't be focusing on me if I were you," She snickered, "Keep your eyes on the frogweed!"

I dodge another attempt on my life by the killer plant, its tongue shooting in and out of its 'mouth' as it hops closer to me with every attack.

I duck under one, hop to the side to avoid another, and manage to get smacked in the rear by a third strike, I yelp and hear Nara going into hysterics behind me, her laughter doing nothing to improve my mood.

"Hey Nara," I say, continually dodging as I do so. "So glad you're enjoying yourself over there, really, I am. But once you're done over there, would you mind, Oh, I don't know, HELPING ME?!"

The Frogweed emits a strange croak-like noise, lashing out its tongue once again as I yell at her.

"Against a frogweed?" She looks at me, wiping tears from her eyes as she does so, "Seriously? Are you _that_ weak?"

I shoot her another glare, "Aren't you being paid to keep me safe?"

"You _are safe_ , there's just one of them! The most that overgrown toadstool is gonna do to you is leave a couple bruises! I really don't how you scaleless people go without armor, you're all so...squishy and fragile. Just whack the thing, it'll eventually lose interest and head back underground."

"Whack it?! With what?"

The dragoness groaned, "Your paws!"

"Paws?" I give her a confused stare, receiving another lash in the process. I back up significantly, making the plant cover the distance one slow hop at a time

"Claws, hands, grabbers, whatever you call them! Just _hit it_!"

I look from Nara to the frogweed hesitantly, my entire body sore and screaming for me to stop, my guide gives me an expectant look, gesturing for me to punch the thing with her claws.

I look back to the creature as it croaks at me again.

"Or just let it try to swallow you whole, either way, you live and I get paid."

I shook my head, groaning at the absurdity of punching a plant, before charging with a battle cry of: "F**k my life!"

I ran up to the plant, stepping to the left to avoid the tongue, before stepping forward, twisting my hips and shooting my fist out at my foe.

The creature recoiled from the blow, the strike seeming only to moderately perturb it, it leaned back before returning to its original position and attacking again.

I hopped back as the tongue narrowly missed my legs and grunted in pain when my shoulder erupted in pain once more. I ignored it and stepped forward,kicking at it with one leg, this time the creature falls, landing on its back. The frogweed groaned, before standing up once again and burrowing into the ground with its roots. I sighed, happy to be rid of it. I then turned back to Nara, extremely angry.

"What the hell?!"

"What?"

"You were gonna just let that thing kick my a**?" I stomped toward her perch

"Yeah,"

"WHY?!"

"I wanted to know if you could handle yourself!" Nara defended,

"Aren't you supposed to do that for me?"

"What are you? A noble? If I'm gonna keep you safe, then I need to make sure you can keep _yourself_ safe as well."

"And you thought right now would be a good time to do that?"

"Whyyyyy wouldn't it be?" She gives me a confused look.

I gesture angrily to my shoulder and her eyes widen in understanding.

"Oooooh, yeah." Her voice takes on an apologetic tone, "Probably didn't think through that completely. "

I growl, picking up the canteen as I pass by it.

"You seem to make a habit of tha-"

" _Krumph!"_

The ground behind me explodes upward in several places, causing me to scream in a rather un-manly way as five more Frogweeds hop out of the ground. They turn to me and collectively let out a very pissed-sounding series of croaks and hop aggressively towards me.

I back up, knowing for sure I couldn't take on that many of them, especially in my current state. The lead frog attacked, tripping me up with its tongue and causing me to fall onto my back.

I feel pain flare in my shoulder as I hit the ground, causing me to wince. I look up and see the frogweeds closing in,

"Nara!" I scream, holding my hands up in a desperate attempt to defend myself.

A green tail sweeps over my head and smashes into the group, sending them flying back several yards as Nara positions herself in front of me, growling menacingly. The frogweeds take one look at the angry dragon and disappear, slipping underground faster than the first one had.

I get to my feet, grumbling and dusting myself off before hastily making my way back up to the ridge. Not bothering to turn and thank my savior as she sighs and follows me back. I notice a small pile of wood surrounded by rocks and sit down nearby, silently fuming and nursing my wounds, a few have which have since re-opened since being scabbed over. I curse silently and try to ignore the pain before turning and looking out over the ridge, my eyes scanning over the scenery as I become lost in my thoughts once again. Nara approaches the camp and sits on the opposite side from me. She doesn't say a word, instead, I hear a rustling noise as she digs through what I can only assume to be her satchel. A few moments later I hear a slight scraping noise. I turn and find Nara dragging a single talon across a piece of steel, her claw causing sparks to fly off the metal as she holds it close to the bundle of sticks. She repeats the cycle several times, each one failing to produce enough sparks to light the kindling.

"D**ned thing, should've been born with fire ."

She mutters to herself as she works, dragging the claw faster and faster across the metal. I turn my back on her as the sound of claws on metal continue to quicken in pace, eventually stopping as the smell of smoke fills the air.

"Finally."

The sound of a crackling fire soon made its way to me, carrying with it memories of roasted marshmallows and camping trips in the woods by our property, it sort of felt like this, sans the whole 'constant pain and fear of death' thing. I hug my knees and try to push the memories back, trying to think of anything but my family and the image of their corpses, filled with holes and left to the elements in front of our home. I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to erase the thought, but find it firmly pressed into my mind, bringing with it only an ever-present dread that permeated every second of the silence between Nara and I.

As time went by, the sun set behind the forest canopy, covering the clearing in shadow save for the dim light of our fire. I continued to sit with my back turned to the fire, listening to it crack and spark as I sulk silently. Nara had made several attempts to get my attention over the past hour, ranging from clearing her throat to tossing small pebbles at me in order to get me to turn around and talk to her. I ignored her and eventually her subtle jabs began to lessen in frequency until gradually she stopped trying to interact with me at all. At this point, I was able to rest, not quite sleeping but not quite awake either, unable to remove the grim images plaguing my mind. The silence was, sadly not to last, Nara apparently had become impatient.

I jolted up as the ground beneath me literally _rotated,_ spinning me around to face my reptilian guide, who looked at me with a frustrated expression.

"Do you mind?" I gave her a look of annoyance, too tired of seeing the impossible to react to the small miracle that had just occurred.

"Yes," replied Nara. "You can't just ignore me like this."

I raised an eyebrow and my frown deepened.

"Watch me." I spun around once again, and Nara rotated my spot again. Her face carrying a smug expression of victory as I was forced to face her once again.

I shrugged, "Still gonna ignore you."

Her face fell, " Ok, I get it, you're pissed. I screwed up and you paid the price, I should have been more cautious."

I remained silent, averting my eyes before shifting uncomfortably once again.

"In all honesty, I was going to stop you, but….. I thought it would be better if you got a bit of a crash course in surviving here, I just, didn't expect a pack of those things to show up though."

"You could have just told me your idea instead of just dumping it on me." I looked up at her and narrowed my eyes. "I did alright, and you had my back when it counted, I'll give you that. But…"

I sighed, discontented and mellowing out as I thought about the situation. She had the right idea in trying to teach me to fend for myself, and in all honesty, I probably needed to learn to fight in a place like this. But in my current state? I barely won against a plant.

"I'm in no shape to fight, even against something like one of those...frog-reeds."

"Frog _weeds."_ Corrected Nara.

"Whatever." I gave her a glare. "Needing to fight is one thing, but I don't need to learn how to survive here until I'm healthy enough to learn, let's get to this village, I'll heal, and you can give me whatever lessons you think I need."

Nara seemed to be pleased with the answer, nodding and smiling before picking a book out of her bag.

"You can get some rest." Nara says, her mood apparently improved; "I'll take first watch."

I nod and lay down against a flat sloped rock, the position only slightly uncomfortable. I shifted to face the fire and gave Nara one last look, she read her book in a serene manner, her reptilian eyes scanning the pages up and down before gently picking the page with her talons and turning it. I looked at her eyes in more detail and saw that her pupils were perfectly rounded like a humans' instead of like reptile's. She kind of looked like any old person from back home, the way she read reminding me of how I used to read on my family's property. It was weird to me, how something so clearly inhuman seemed so similar to me and other humans. I mentally shrugged, just more questions to add to the ever-expanding list of crap I don't know the answer to. I allow my eyelids to grow heavy before closing them, listening to the wind blowing through the trees and the crackling of the fire as the burning wood occasionally shifted. Finally the sounds faded as I faded into sleep.

* * *

" _Well, now this is a plot twist."_

I shoot up, looking around me only to find an inky black void surrounding me, the voice echoes throughout the darkness and chilling me to my core.

" _What? You thought I was done with your scrawny a**?"_

Klein.

" _WOW! He can recognise voices! Give the man a ****ing trophy!"_

I jump to my feet, looking around me to find the murderer, but all I am met with is his amused laughter.

He's taunting me.

"You son of a *****!" I roar into the dark, charging blindly into the abyss in a fit of passion before a leg appears out of nowhere and trips me, making me fall on my face.

" _Chill out there, Batman."_ Klein crows, his voice surrounding me. " _If you haven't noticed, you're dreaming. Congrats."_

I look furiously around once more, trying to find his face in the dark.

" _Now I can't hurt you here, and you can't hurt me. That's how the boss wanted it, and as much as I think it would be cool to be able to suddenly wake you up with a nut-punch. I'm inclined to agree with him."_

"What do you want Klein?" I snarl, "You get off on ruining my life or something?"

" _Or something."_ Replies Klein. " _I see you made a friend,not bad for a guy that should be dead, but I should get on-topic here. You, my angsty boy, are going to need to prepare yourself._ "

"For what?" I question,

" _Antagonists."_

"What?"

" _Antagonists, I suggest you get as far from that city your scaly friend is leading you to, boss wants it off the map."_

An insult mixed with a witty retort died in my throat as my thoughts slowly churned, my brain slowly put two and two together as Nara's 'Dark Master' Villain suddenly sprang to mind.

"Your boss is that guy, isn't he? The 'Dark Master,' who tried to kill everything on the planet?"

" _OOOOOOhhh, yeah. Now we're getting somewhere."_ Klein chuckled happily, " _Yep, the dark master's my boss, and you, Aran happen to be one of two humans he wanted on the planet before everything comes together. He wanted this, so now we're gonna have ourselves a little slugfest me and you. Winner take all."  
_

" _What is that supposed to mean?"_

" _It means, you're the competition, the boss is picking an heir, and he thinks it's either me or you who gets ol' big chungus' power. Whoever's left standing gets it, and all of the other's power, so first and foremost, the boss obviously has his bets placed on me, hence the portal thing and the purple light show in my body . Buuuuuuuut, he's giving you a sporting chance, and It would be just like last time if I just hunted you down now. So….. you have a while, maybe a few weeks, maybe a few months, maybe a few years, before I come on down for round one._ "

I remain silent, processing this information,

" _If you do wanna keep going, maybe play the 'tragic hero' in this little escapade, go ahead, but just so you know, If I see you for realizies, I may just have to smack you around, you know, get a few spars in before the main event."_

"Why are you telling me this Klein?" I finally say, "If you're even telling the truth."

" _Bosses orders,"_ he replies _" that, and I want a good fight before everything goes down, those 'saviors' might put up a good enough scrap, but you. I can tell you are gonna be fun when we start slapping on each other."_

I ponder the information, if he's telling the truth, then I need to learn how to fight, Klein will be coming for me, and I need to be ready whether I want this 'dark master's' power or not.

" _Maybe Warfang is your best bet, maybe it ain't, who am I to say, just don't go get kill yourself killed when I have to bulldoze the place, the boss' remedy for that sort of thing isn't very fun. Just make sure to get gud before I see ya again, I suggest you start training, here, I'll help you out, a few training dummies ought to help."_

I suddenly feel unsettled.

" _Don't worry, they won't kill ya, maybe just the dragon, and then maybe they'll drag you and her corpse to the gates of Warfang. Maybe. But for now, I must bid thee adios, I have the hostile takeover of two planets to plan."_

His voice fades away, and I'm left with a spine-tingling sensation that I wouldn't like what I would wake up to.

* * *

I wake to the sounds of howling, the sound making my skin crawl and making me groggily look around for Nara, who had disappeared, leaving me with the last few embers of the fire dying out and the wind whipping the trees around the clearing into a frenzy, their leaves and branches swinging like the arms of damned souls in eternal torment.

I'm then grabbed from behind and dragged off the cliff by my hood, I almost screamed before a scaled claw gently but firmly cupped my mouth, and I was brought off the cliff and down below where it overhung. I was dropped and hit the thin layer of water ungracefully before some of it was splashed in my face. I gave a panicked squawk of surprise once more before the claw shut me up again. I looked up and found myself looking into Nara's eyes, her pupils had changed from their rounded shape into predatory slits.

"Get up," She commanded, her voice carrying nothing but a cold, unfeeling tone.

"We've got trouble."

* * *

Author's note:

Not dead.

Yay.


	6. Chapter 5: Shadows

**Chapter 5: Shadows**

"We've got trouble."

Nara gently removes her claw from my mouth before slowly peeking around the edge of the cliff. I slowly get to my feet and press myself against the rocky wall beside her, she growls, it's a fierce, predatory noise that sends shivers down my spine as soon as it hits my ears. She looked on, scanning the treeline beyond our hiding place before looking back to me.

"Stay here," She leaps up and clambers over the edge of the cliff, l do as I'm told, silent dread overtaking me as my feet root to the spot.

This was bad, very bad.

Not only was I being hunted by a psychotic memelord serial-killer, but his boss just happened to be the ****ing dragon equivalent to Sauron! I leaned against the wall as I begin to panic, I had never killed before, I could throw a solid punch, I could shoot decently, but what did that mean against Klein? My thoughts drift back to his words;

" _I suggest you get far away from that city your scaly friend is leading you to, boss wants it off the map."_

I curse silently, Klein was going to attack Warfang, whether he did it alone or with backup, it wasn't going to end well. I argue with myself over my options, do I tell Nara? Would she even believe me? I hated keeping secrets, lying even more so, but I had done both more than a few times, those situations had scarcely ended well. I had a feeling that sort of situation would end up even worse here. But what if I did tell her, what if she took me to Warfang and all of a sudden I'm locked up or killed for conspiring with Dragon _Satan_?! I didn't owe Warfang or the dragons anything, hell, I haven't been on this planet for more than three days!

A twig snaps and I shake myself out of my fear-induced stupor enough to shuffle over to the edge of the wall, the water sloshed around with every step I took, soaking my feet and chilling them to the core. I ignore the cold and chance a look beyond my hiding place. I see shapes shift from tree to tree, swinging and jumping amongst the branches like monkeys. One stops, and I catch a glimpse of two glowing, green eyes staring right back at me. I give a surprised gasp before immediately returning to cover.

"Oh, God." My heart feels like its going to burst out of my chest, I attempt to steady my breathing but find that I can barely form a coherent thought.

" _Scrk!"_

I nearly scream again as Nara suddenly hops off the cliff and presses herself against the cliff immediately, her breaths almost as erratic and panicked as mine.

"****" She manages to gasp, " They were supposed to have died out!"

I slowly approach her and gently lay my hand on her shoulder, she jolts and turns on me, looking ready to tear me to pieces before she realises its me.

"What. The hell. Are those?" I stammer, trying to prevent myself from breaking down outright.

"Shadow Apes." She says, "Minions of the dark master."

As if on cue, the monsters in the trees howl even more at the mention of their name, the trees shaking as their horrible screeching surrounds us.

"Minions?!" I whisper-yell.

"They-they used to be Mercenaries working for him before he was released, but he cursed the majority of them when he returned to Avalar. There's nothing left of what they used to be now, just….monsters. "

Nara's eyes darted from tree to tree, looking scared out of her mind.

"They should be gone, dead, just like the grublins and the orks." She whimpers, shaking her head. "They should have faded away when their master died."

I stare in disbelief at the sight of my would-be protector, whatever shadow apes are, they can make a dragon of all things cower like a newborn deer. My hopes for surviving this plummet, Klein has these things at his disposal, and while they probably won't kill _me_ outright if Klein was telling the truth, Nara was open season.

"Can you kill them?" I ask, nervously looking around us.

She looks at me, silently staring before looking away.

"Maybe a few of them," she looks back to the trees. "But I'm no savior, I don't even know how many of those things are out there."

"**** it." I give a resigned sigh.

I might no have owed Warfang or the dragons anything, but Nara had been the only friend I had here, she had no obligation to be as kind as she was to me. Hell, she could've just called me 'creature' the entire time and left me to my wounds. But she didn't, she treated my wounds, she had been trying to teach me to survive here, she was doing everything she could to help me. I owed her, if anything I owed her my life.

"Run."

Nara whirled around to face me. "What?"

"Run, Nara." I was surprised the words had even left my mouth. Nara stares at me in shock, sitting down on her haunches.

"But-"

"I don't think they'll kill me," I cut her off. "Remember that guy I told you about? Klein? The one who sent me here? He's the one who sent these things, I…. I think that dark master of yours may still be alive."

Nara's eyes go wide. "How do you know?" She says, her voice all but shaking.

"Klein came at me in a dream, I don't know why but he needs me, his _boss_ needs me. They won't kill me, but they will kill you."

Nara's face is a mask of uncertainty, she looks down, thinking something over.

"They're going to attack Warfang Nara, someone has to warn them, and I'm only gonna slow you down. Those saviors are your best bet at beating them, if you can get to them before Klein maybe we stand a chance."

Nara had stopped shaking and was looking at her claws solemnly, she sighed. Looking back to me, she shook her head.

"No."

"Nara…"

"No, you're my responsibility and you don't deserve to be left like this. _You_ run, I'll buy you some time."

I look back at her and shake my head, "You're the one with wings, we're surrounded and there's nowhere to for me to run."

"No! I'm not gonna just run!" Nara gets to her feet and meets my eyes defiantly

"This is bigger than the two of us!"I argue back, "if the Dark Master got to Klien and me, that means Earth is at stake as well as Avalar! We can't afford to be sentimental!"

"If I go to the council with this without proof all I'll get for the effort is a brand as a nutjob!"

"And what will I look like?!"

Nara's eyes narrowed and she dug her claws into the ground, "I'm not leaving you to suffer Aran!"

"I won't let anyone else die because of me!" I yell, further agitating the shadow apes.

Nara doesn't reply but instead fixes me with a sympathetic yet defiant look. I growl in frustration and turn my back on her, grumbling and pacing, I didn't know what I had done to earn the loyalty of a dragon, of all things, but it wasn't purposeful.

"You are incredibly stubborn." I say, resignation filling my voice, to which Nara responded with a satisfied 'hmph.'

"The same could be said for you." Nara laid a claw on my shoulder, I look up to find her still attempting to look brave despite the fact her smile was full of cracks. She was terrified, yet still trying to keep a straight face, that was bravery if I had ever seen it, it was stupid, incredibly, undeniably, and irresistibly stupid, but I suppose what I was trying to do was no better.

"Then I guess we're both stuck with each other," I say, turning back to face her.

The Dragoness nodded her head in agreement, her smile becoming a little more legitimate, now the only sign that she was scared at all was the slight tremor in her voice and the fact that her claws were still shaking.

"I haven't lost a job once, and I'm not starting now." She gives me a semi-confident grin.

I find myself returning the smile despite the fear and depression, if she could smile despite all of this, then so could I.

"So, the way I see it, they'll come at us all at once, if I can knock one or two of them out of the way we can make a run for the Cheetah village."

Nara opens her bag and pulls out a knife, the handle polished wood, and the blade adorned with a beautiful design carved into the metal near the hilt, she holds the weapon handle-first out to me and I take it, finding the weight of it to feel somewhat reassuring. Why couldn't I have gotten this earlier?

"Use that if one of those freaks manages to get too close, but don't try any heroics. Nara stared at me intently, "If I go down, you keep running and you don't stop running."

She shrugs off her bag and tosses it to me, "there should be everything you need to get to Warfang in there. Just follow the map I drew and give the letters to those I have addressed them to."

"I'm not leaving you," I remind her. "If you're with me, then I'm with you. No if's and's or but's."

Nara shakes her head; "Just stay behind me."

By now the cacophony of howls was all but deafening, and all of a sudden, Nara roars. Her warcry silencing the forest for a few seconds. I take the hint and place myself behind the dragon and get ready to run.

"I just challenged them." Whispers Nara, her voice rife with anxiety.

"You what?!"

A single, enraged howl splits the night, the wind that surrounds us fades instantly, and then I see it, a single humanoid creature emerges from the forest and into the pale moonlight. I feel my heart stop as I see it, the creature was bipedal, reminding me of a human skeleton made of smoke, from a distance anyway. However, upon a closer look, I saw that it was different from what I thought, the creature was too… wrong. It's arms too long, its stature too hunched-over to even be human. The creature staggered forward, swinging it's elongated, green-eyed skull over to look at us. I feel rooted to the spot as the creature's eyes meet mine, it's stare carrying the same dead-eyed, emotionless look that the one that killed my family had. I could see Klein behind those eyes, watching me, laughing at the terror on my face.

The shadow ape twitches, its neck twisting at an odd angle, Nara bristled, a low draconic growl building in her throat. The creature twitched again, then again, and again until the Shadow ape's entire body has erupted in spasms. Finally the creature throws it's head back and unleashes an ear-splitting screech that nearly deafens me. I clamp my hands to my ears and spit out a chain of curses.

The shadowy monster digs it feet into the ground and throws itself forward, screeching all the way. More shadow apes emerge from the woods behind the leader, tearing out of the undergrowth all around us until we're surrounded, with the pack of monsters closing in on us from every angle.

"NOW!" Nara bolts to the left, charging straight for the lead ape, I break into an all-out sprint, just barely keep up with her as the apes behind us rip through our former campsite. The dragoness lowers her head, her horns pointed straight at the shadow ape in front of her. With only feet between us, I tap into all of the trauma, all of the anger and the desperation I had felt over the past two days.

I give a yell of defiance, pure emotion roaring out of my lungs and focusing all into a single noise. Nara gives a roar to match mine, our combined voices drowning out the apes' if only for a moment.

Then they were on us.


	7. Chapter 6: The Promise

**Chapter 6: The Promise.**

I crash through the undergrowth, slapping aside bushes and vines as I blindly stumble through the darkness of the forest. An exposed root catches my foot and before I know it I'm face first in the dirt.

I curse and struggle to my feet,a tree branch shifts behind me and the howls of the shadow apes pursuing me grow closer and closer with every breath I take. In the distance I hear Nara roar, and briefly the forest is lit up in a green flash, I see shadows dance across the trees before quickly fading away as the light disappears making it difficult to tell what was what.

Once I'm on my feet I begin to head in the direction of the light, still running from the howls at my back. The forest was dead save for Nara's occasional roaring and the shrieking of our nightmarish hunters. Once the two of us had made it into the treeline everything seemed to blur together, I remember screaming my lungs out as Nara plowed through the first of the creatures and being separated as we hit the treeline. I hadn't stopped running and neither had Nara, and now we were cut off from each other.

I hold the dagger Nara gave me like a lifeline, its weight the only thing reminding me that it was still in my hand at all. I keep low as another flash and another roar illuminate the trees, both closer than before. I instinctively duck and hear more shrieks as the trees directly above me rustle and groan as the monsters leap from branch to branch, heading in the direction of the noise and the light. They were being attracted to it, like moths to a flame, I had no doubt Nara was on her own and fighting God knows how many of those things, she had told me to run if this happens.

Unfortunately for me, I decided not to listen to her, and now here I am trying to back her up when I can't even make sense of where I am in the dark.

I hear another roar, this one shorter and cut off before cutting to a pained shout. It didn't take a genius to figure out what that meant. I wait until the apes have moved ahead of me before standing and continuing on as another blast of green light illuminates the forest. Bathing me in the light and leaving me completely visible for that brief moment, I duck back down into the shrubs, as fast as I can, not daring to move until the light had completely gone and the only sounds that could be heard were the chirping of distant crickets.

I stand and continue making my way towards the sounds until I hear a shriek, closer than any other I've heard before as the light fades. I freeze, unsure of if I had been seen or not, I wait a moment longer before another pained shout wears away my patience and I move.

Immediately another shriek comes from right above me, I snap my head up just in time to meet the soulless green orbs of the Shadow ape pouncing me from above. I scream, my life flashing before my eyes as the creature slams into me.

* * *

( **Two Weeks Ago…)**

"God, Dad have you no mercy?!"

"No, I have a rifle."

I audibly and obnoxiously groan as I follow my older brother and my father through the woods, this was supposed to be a hunting trip, instead, I am stuck in a purgatory of dad jokes with no escape save for the rifle I held in my hands.

It was a few minutes past nine A.M in the morning, the sky was a grey with clouds that shifted and swirled overhead, barely visible through the ceiling of fog that hung just below the tops of the trees as if they were columns holding the grey mist up. The air was alive with the sounds of birds, whose calls left the forest without a single moment of true silence and were only rivaled in volume by the constant chirping of countless cicadas, none of which could be seen but could clearly be heard, much to my annoyance.

"You're just egging him on Aran." My older brother Will looked over his shoulder at me, an evil grin plastered on his face. "I've put up with his **** for five years,"

"Language," interjected my dad.

"**** you I'm a marine, I'll swear if I wanna swear." Replied Will with a cocky smile. Dad simply chuckled in response.

"That's fine, just know that's one less meal you're eating under my roof."

Will grumbled but didn't reply, instead walking ahead of my father a few feet up the trail, grumbling something intelligible and absent-mindedly cycling the bolt on his rifle. I pick up the pace in order to walk beside my father.

"Barely a week into Will's furlough and you two are already at odds. That's gotta be a new record." My dad snorts and gives a small chuckle.

"Well at least it's better than his 'silent rage,' he wouldn't talk to me or your mother for a whole week after the whole 'marines' debacle."

"I remember that, I had to play messenger between y'all the whole time." I roll my eyes and sling my rifle over my back.

That argument had resulted in a lot of screaming and the two of them nearly coming to blows, if he had anywhere else to go, I'm pretty sure Will would have been there rather than home for his furlough. Too much resentment between the two of them, I was pretty sure the only reason we were on this little trip at all was for me to be able to spend some time with Will. I still wasn't as skilled with a gun as Will was, but I had been getting better, and he had been teasing a shooting contest between the two of us ever since he had gotten home, and I was more than happy to take him up on it.

"You both were in the wrong there, y'know, not just Will," I say to my father, causing him to look at me with more than a little annoyance. I shrug it off and keep walking.

"I guess that's fair." He replied, "we both said a good couple things we probably shouldn't have, and it wasn't fair to you or your mother, but she was just scared for Will, every soldier's mother is. Your grandmother was when I went off to the middle east, she had understood why, but that didn't mean she had liked it. I suppose I was scared as well when Will finally made the announcement, but I was just too mad to see through my own pride. I didn't want that life for either of you, but when it really comes down to it I didn't have the right to try to deny Will his future. "

I nod, a thoughtful look on my face as I look forward to watch my brother, now finished messing with his gun and now having it rest on his shoulder.

"Yeah, I still think he would've joined even if you did make good on that threat to kick him out. Probably more out of spite than anything else, he's kind of stubborn."

"All us Hallandays are," replied my Father, beginning to stride ahead of me. "When something pushes us, we push back, you don't take one of us on without expecting to have a few scars afterward."

"Unfortunately for us, that's a blessing and a curse." I sigh, slightly wincing as a drop of water plops onto my head. My dad chuckled once more as he continued to walk ahead, but stops and turns to me, blocking my path forward, his face becoming deadly serious.

"The only difference between a blessing and a curse is your point of view Aran, but no matter how much we may hate each other now, we never abandon family, whether they be blood or not. I forgot that when your brother left, and that almost tore us apart, _my mistake_ almost ruined our family. That's why you need to remember, never give up on family, be they by blood or any other way, if they need you, you move heaven and earth to help them and God help anyone or anything that gets in your way. Promise me that whatever happens, you'll do that for me."

I gulp, suddenly uncomfortable at the look dad was giving me, but manage to stutter out a reply;

"Y-yes, sir."

He nods and smiles once more: "Aw come on Aran, don't be such a wuss, let's go, we don't want your brother to bag all the deer out here, God knows he's got the training to do it. I nod fervently and run after him.

 **(Present)**

"Ahhhgh!"

The shadow ape smashes into me from above, slamming me into the ground, and holding me there with a single claw. The thing throws its head up and howls, leaving me with ringing ears as I struggle against its grip, the shadow-creature looks at me a moment, before suddenly lunging down, I bring up my arm just in time for its fangs to clamp down around my arm. I yell once more, swearing and screaming as the thing shakes its head left and right like a dog would do with a chew-toy, dragging me across the ground and tearing my arm apart, I hold back another scream before remembering the fact that I'm armed.

I jab the dagger into the head of my attacker, causing it to give a pained shriek and recoil, stumbling back from me, but not dying.

I struggle to my feet, holding my wounded arm as the shadow ape quickly recovers and pounces at me once again, I'm tackled to the ground once more but am able to get my legs up in time to kick out at it. It stumbles back a moment before throwing itself back at me, swinging its claws at me with wild abandon. I hold the dagger up in an attempt to hold back the flurry of swipes but can't keep up with the creature. Cuts open up on my chest and arms as I'm left stumbling back.

I desperately swing at the creature in retaliation, it simply jumps back before jumping forward once again and attacking once again, slamming its weight into me and sending me flying back into a tree. I gasp and feel a rib crack. I drop the dagger and slump against the tree, all the fight taken out of me as I lay there, broken and bleeding. The ape gives a shriek of victory before slowly closing in, it claws closed into fists as it prepares to bring them down on me.

Well, this is how the story ends, killed by a monster in some forest on a completely different planet, not the way I envisioned or hoped to go out. I suppose I really shouldn't have believed Klein when he said he wouldn't kill me. But, hey, what can you do? I guess I had a good life, had a decent amount of friends, kissed a girl once, had a loving family. Yeah, a pretty good life up until these last few days. Probably could have done more with my life, maybe done a little charity, maybe have given a little bit more. But in the end I failed, I failed my family, I failed this planet, and I failed Nara. I really wasn't cut out for something like this anyway.

I wasn't some hero destined to save the planet, all I wanted was to go home, but in the end, what was left for me? Some burned out ruins and corpses? No, this entire thing was just some cruel joke from Klein from the beginning, all I was to him was a plaything, a ball of yarn he could bat around for amusement like some sort of demented cat.

"Well Klein, you win."

I look up into the creature's eyes, knowing without a doubt he's watching me through them. The ape does not stop, still stomping towards me with a slow, almost cocky gait.

"You sick son of a *****! Come on!" I scream at the ape, "DO IT!" Tears stream down my face as I scowl at it, holding its gaze until finally, I let my head drop in resignation.

The ape continues to stride forward until it is barely a foot away from me, staring down at my slumped-over form with a cold, unfeeling gaze as it seems to observe me, then it stretches its hand out, grabbing me under my chin and forcing my head up to look up at it.

"No." It breathes, its voice sounding like it had come from a dead man's throat, raspy and like sandpaper on the ears.

The ape howls into the air once more, and more howls reply it, and suddenly I'm aware of the fact that Nara's roaring has stopped and the forest is no longer lit by the green light.

Minutes later several more shadow apes appear through the trees, some dropping down from the branches while others simply lumber up to us. I notice the ones on the ground are injured, one is missing an arm while half of another's head is missing. There are several fewer apes than I remember seeing in the clearing, maybe Nara did kill a few of them. One of them grunted briefly to a group of apes watching from the trees, and to my confusion, they immediately began tearing apart the branches around us. Ripping up leaves and anything else in the way until moonlight shone through the hole they had made and lit up the entire scene before me

Then out of the trees comes a group of five apes. Carrying Nara's limp form by her forelegs, I strain and attempt to get up but the one in front of me holds me down. Nara was hurt, bleeding in several places sporting several spots of discoloration in her scales that I assumed to be bruises. I had told her I wouldn't leave her, a lot of good that did.

The apes throw Nara to the ground a few feet in front of me, she hits the ground with a slight moan that lets me know she's still alive. I felt slightly relieved, but confused, why hadn't they killed her?

The ape that had commanded the others strode to the unconscious form and picked her up by the neck with one claw. Making shrill noises as it held her up for all of the other shadowy monsters to see, they respond with a series of hoots and cries.

They were celebrating.

The leader gives another loud cry, and the forest falls silent, completely devoid of sound, not even wind, the leader turns to me and points and I feel the ape pinning me wrap its hands around my face, keeping me from turning my head. The ape leader then exposes a single clawed finger and holds it up to Nara's throat, and I realize all too late what was about to happen.

Klein had told the truth.

"NO!" I scream thrashing against the ape's grip as the apes around us burst into a frenzy, screaming with victorious malice as they cried out like spectators in a gladiatorial arena.

I yell and scream, desperately trying to free myself from under it as I watch the creature flaunt my friend like some sort of trophy. Our audience only growing in volume It was happening again, images of corpses flashed through my mind, gunfire, screams, and laughter all blending together in a vague cocktail of blurry memories that I nearly lose myself in. I'm nearly blind with the tears that freely stream from my eyes once more. Nara was the only reason I was alive, she had been a light in the dark these past few days. Another good thing that Klein was going to rip away with a smile on his face.

"Please! Please! NO!" I thrash even harder as the ape slides a talon under Nara's scales, blood slowly spilling out over its finger as it did so.

" _Not again!"_ My mind screamed, " _I can't do this again!"_

I struggled against the shadow ape with reckless abandon, the images flashing against my vision as a memory returned to me of that night, a single emotion, pure as fire and as clear as water.

Anger.

No, not anger.

 _Fury._

It was a fury borne of grief, of loss, of hatred, and it was all aimed at him. At _Klein,_ he took my family away, he took my life away, but he hasn't taken everything, not yet.

" _I won't let him get the chance."_

Just as the ape begins I feel my emotions dull, everything about the situation seemingly unimportant, who I am, where I'm from, what was happening, all of it melting away until only two thoughts are left in my mind.

 _Kill the apes, save the dragon._

The thought remains in my mind for a moment, silently echoing away as time stops for me, everything seemingly slowing down as my mind repeats the message until it reaches a crescendo in my head, my own voice screaming it at me and fueling the fire.

 _KILL THE APES, SAVE THE DRAGON!_

The sound that leaves my mouth doesn't even sound human, and as I thrust my hand upward and grab the shadow ape on top of me by its eye holes I feel as if the person doing this isn't me, but I know it is, I'm the one who let his family die, I'm the one who Klein made the mistake of screwing with. But most importantly?

I'm the one who's going to kill these ****ing apes.

A simple tug rips the front of the first ape's skull completely off, I feel it go limp and start to collapse but by the time it would've been able to collapse on top of me I'm already closing my hand around the dagger I dropped.

Then I'm up and on the ape holding Nara, burying the weapon up to the hilt in the ape's temple before ripping it out and cutting the thing's head in half with a single swing. As both bodies drop to the ground the Ape's surrounding us have gone silent.

One tries to howl but finds itself with a dagger between the eyes before it can even get the noise out of its non-existent lungs. I stare into those green orbs once again, hatred clouding my thoughts as I bring the blade down into its head several more times before the green light in its eyes disappears, fading to black as some kind of purple light reflects off of them.

I turn and face two more apes, they charge and I meet them head-on, throwing myself into both of them with a feral scream. More apes howl around me, I don't care, let them come, let all of them come, saves me the trouble of chasing them down.

I bring a closed fist down on the ape and the bones break like they were made of sandpaper, the other ape swipes at me, I feel nothing and assume it missed. I punish it for its mistake with a dagger through the skull.

Three more come from behind, trying to catch me off guard, I swing the dagger in a wide arc and two of them manage to jump back in time, the third is bisected at the spine. I leap forward and drive my fist into the face of one and in a purple flash, the creature is sent flying back, shattering against a tree. The other lunges, pushing against me and snapping at my face relentlessly, I give a growl before slamming my head directly into the creatures snapping maw, I feel an impact, but no pain.

The Ape is not so lucky, its jaw split into two and hanging off of either side of its face, I plan my hand directly on its head and slam it into the ground, letting my foot take care of the rest.

This…. what was this? I was angry before, but now? I wanted blood, I wanted to see Klein bleed, I wanted him to see everything he loved hung, burned and then desecrated, while I drew this dagger across his throat.

The apes fling themselves out of the trees, attacking and dying in twos and threes, as I hack, slash, punch, and kick my way through their number, I scream, I growl, I curse and then,

 _I start laughing._

They were all going to die, I was going to kill them.

My attacks only get faster as I relentlessly cut through the bones of another shadow ape, my blade passing through the creature like butter.

I cut, and cut and cut until there are barely any apes left, I chuckle at the apes, who seem to be retreating, scattering into the forest like scared dogs. I feel the anger rise up again, even stronger before something restrains me.

 _NO._

I slowly take a look around me, looking around with a still- sinister look on my face as I searched for a victim, daring another ape to come out of the shadows, I find the skull of my most recent kill and take another look into the eyes, what I see freezes me to the spot.

I…. _looked like Klien._

I had never felt so terrified to be in my own skin, this wasn't me but I wanted it so bad. To make them suffer so I didn't, but, being… this? This wasn't the way to survive, this wasn't who I was, I wasn't some murderous psychopath, I was….me.

Finally, I feel myself tiring, my rage seemingly subsiding as the purple haze I didn't notice shrouding my vision fades and I'm left standing in a pile of smashed bones, wisps of purple energy slowly smoking off of them. There were dozens of them, I had done that, how?

I look around for a moment before my memory finally kickstarts and I see the familiar shape of a dragon amongst the carnage I try to take a step forward and my legs collapse, pain like never before appearing in several places throughout my body. I give a single, choked gasp before my body completely gives out, leaving me on the ground and reaching for Nara. I single thought arcing through my head, before everything faded to black.

" _That's why you need to remember, never give up on family, be they by blood or any other way, if they need you, you move heaven and earth to help them and God help anyone or anything that gets in your way. Promise me that whatever happens, you'll do that for me."_

"I...I promise." I choke out as my eyes close and darkness overtakes me.

* * *

"There! What did I tell you, Claude? A dragon!"

"Yes, fine, you told me, next hunt you can use my….. Agrotora's bow! That's Nara!"

"Who?"

"The dragon mercenary? The only other dragon besides the saviors that the Chief respects?! The very same dragon that held off ten Death hounds by herself to save your sorry hide?!

"...oh."

"You're unbelievable, C'mon, help me get her out of these….."

"..."

"Fennah, these are…"

"Apes…"

"No, worse. But that would mean…. Agrotora shield us! Fennah, look around see if there was anyone else with her, if the stories were true not even she could do this all by herself."

"R-Right."

"..."

"Hey, I found something!"

"What, who-"

"..."

"What is it?"

" _Snfff!"_

"Doesn't smell like an ape, and Its holding Nara's dagger."

"We'll ask questions later, help me get Nara back home, we'll come back for this thing later!"

* * *

Author's note:

Well, that took forever to write. Tried to expand a bit on Aran and who he is, hopefully that worked out decently.


	8. Chapter 7: Mutual Interests

**Chapter 7: Mutual Interest.**

"Well, look at you, not as much as a coward as I thought you were."

Thomas absent-mindedly watched as Aran tore through the shadow apes around him, his eyes glowing purple and a deranged look on his face. At first, he honestly thought the kid was just gonna sit there and let the dragon's throat get slit, that would have sucked.

Of course, _he_ did order the ape to do it, a simple subconscious order from his mind to what was left of the ape's. He had been kind of disappointed with the fight the kid put up at first, but this, this was everything he had hoped and more. Aran had been a lot more focused with the fury than he had been the first time, he had actually focused the rage onto a single group. He was learning, good…. looks like his little training session worked out after all.

The young man chuckled darkly as he watched Aran absolutely butcher the shadow apes, normally one of those things could tear a man in two without much effort. Now here he was watching his competition absolutely tear dozens of the creatures limb from limb.

The image flickered, replaying the slaughter through the eyes of a random shadow ape, watching as he cut apart almost the entire horde of undead beasts with nothing more than a dagger and his bare hands. Eventually, he ordered the apes to retreat, no use in wasting any more bodies than what was needed. He gave the command with no more than a thought, and they did so immediately, scattering amongst the trees, leaving a panting and heavily wounded Aran struggling to remain standing in a pile of ape bones. Klein leaned closer to the image, a small, expectant smile playing across his lips.

"He's gonna pass out."

Aran looked around him in a trance-like state, most likely in shock, he finally settles his gaze on his friend and tries to take a step forward-

"Wait for it…."

-and collapses instantaneously.

"Called it!" Klein hopped up from the chair he sat in and snapped his fingers before immediately heading for the door of the dimly lit room, but slowed his pace at the sound of crackling.

" _ **CRZK! CZZT!"**_

The T.V that had been displaying the image shuddered behind him before exploding in a mess of glass and purple sparks. Sending shards of glass spraying all over the chair he had been sitting on. Thomas regarded the scene with a raised eyebrow and a displeased frown, that had been the third time this week.

"Aw, s**t forgot about that." He approached the chair and began to pick the shards out of the leather. Grumbling to himself as the glass left small cuts on his fingers.

Scrying was usually done best in a river or other body of water, with tech it usually didn't end well, technology as a whole actually didn't seem to work that well with convexity save for a few exceptions, the boss had said it was simply a matter of improvement and refinement, to not as much as force the image to him as directing the flow of events towards him, or rather his mind. In his opinion, a lot of it just seemed like a load of crap that some idiot Dungeons and Dragons player would be spewing in his mom's basement. But when it comes directly from the proverbial mouth of an evil dragon overlord that appears to you in your dreams, you tend to develop a little imagination when it comes to stuff like that.

"F*cking magic bullsh-"

The door opened in front of him, squeaking loudly and tearing him away from his internal monologue, a burly man in a kevlar vest cradling a submachine gun in his arms stepped into the room, tense and with his finger on the trigger. Thomas tensed slightly, but didn't let any indication of his hesitation show, he was a lunatic to these mercs, that was the only way for a kid like him to keep veteran mercs like them in line. Most had laughed at the idea of working for someone as young as him, that was what the first of the men did when he approached their leader with his 'proposition.'

However, one decapitated warlord and the brutalization of three or four rebellious subordinates later, both the warlord's men and the mercenaries he had hired had fell either under his control or into his employ. They may only be obeying him out of fear for now, but they sure as hell followed his orders to the letter. Regardless of how they saw him, every one of these men had their own histories and issue he didn't need to be shot by some jumpy vet who got too scared or had some half-assed war flashback as a result of his powers. He eyed the gun the man cradled and scowled, slowly approaching the man before putting on his mask of intimidation.

"What is it?"

The young man craned his head up to look the man in the eye, staring directly into his subordinate's eyes in a manner that promised pain if his behavior wasn't corrected, the shifted his gaze down to look at the gun once again, the mercenary gulped, still nervous, but he appeared to get the message, the soldier's face turned pale as he shifted from foot to foot and slowly removed his finger from over the trigger of his weapon, flicking on the safety as well.

A majority of the men that worked for them had been like this ever since they first saw him use convexity, he had exploded the head of an insubordinate young mercenary who thought he could handle him, the guy held a pistol up to his head and started screaming about some religious crap, Thomas had barely picked up the language at the time and didn't understand half of what the guy was saying. Of course, the mercenaries could also have started noticing the shadow apes watching them, the things liked to hide in the dark, the sadistic freaks probably snatched one or two of the guys and had some fun with them, he had heard some complaints about strange noises at night, but no disappearances, so either he was wrong or they were too scared to bring it up.

The man muttered something unintelligible to him in Afrikaans, Thomas to pinch the bridge of his nose and held his finger up in a sign to wait. He closed his eyes and strained his mind for a brief moment and felt the familiar pain of convexity-fueled magic rewiring his thoughts, left with a slight headache, he nodded to the man. Who starred at him with wide eyes, Klein rolled his eyes and gestured for the man to speak.

"Visitor." The man said simply,

"Take me." Replied Thomas in Afrikaans, much to the man's shock. The young man chuckled at his subordinate's reaction as the man hesitantly turned and led him out of the room. God knows why he didn't figure out do that sooner, probably would have helped with resolving the problem with the religious guy in a lot more reserved manner. He was tired of having to rely on broken English and a few barely knowledgeable translators to communicate. But his time was better spent elsewhere, either training in the more physical uses of Convexity or endlessly going over the plans that he and his allies were attempting to set in motion, he barely had enough time for eating with all the things he had going on.

He looked around at the complex he had made for himself as they walked across the rusty catwalk that led to the dilapidated office space that was his room, the place was an old, ramshackle warehouse somewhere in central Africa that he took from a senile old warlord. It wasn't ideal for his purposes, but he had to make do with what he had at the moment, if he was to take Warfang it would have to be with skill and strategy, as well as brute force, any slip up in the defense and the dragons were likely to exploit that any way they could. He may have a technological edge when it came to his human soldiers, but they wouldn't make up the bulk of his forces. In addition, from what he heard from his scouts, Warfang's defenses had been updated since Malefor's last assault on it. They would also have the advantage of air superiority, and, of course the fact that every dragon was covered head-to-toe in natural armor and even a couple of them could probably barbeque, freeze, crush, zap, melt, eviscerate and generally slaughter an entire third of the people in the warehouse in less than a minute, he couldn't risk building too much of an army on Earth either, as he already had almost every significant national security agency in the world looking for him after what he had done so far, any slip up on his part could bring an international task force down on his head. Of course, he had contacts in almost every one of those agencies, people that the boss had struck a deal with, or influenced. The dragon had a way with people, and humans as a whole are apparently pretty easy to corrupt once one learns the proper uses of aether and speech. As a result, Klien had a rather large share in several corporations, he had the loyalty of multiple politicians and he would have all the intel, weapons and equipment he would need when it came to facing the world's militaries. But subtlety was critical, and regardless of his resources he could be crushed immediately if he was discovered before all of the pieces fell into place, and if the world united against him, he wouldn't stand a chance, so, for now, he hid, only making as much as an impact on the world as needed.

Still, his forces were growing steadily, and he had already made contact with various terrorist cells and mercenary companies across the globe, he threw around a lot of false promises of religious reform and redrawing of borders, the money would be real, but he hadn't the slightest interest in becoming a martyr or a pariah.

As long as he could get enough of them to join up, he would have enough human troops to both storm Warfang and launch a terror campaign on Earth. From what the boss had told him he had more than enough shadow apes, among other minions, to bolster his forces back on Artisan, or at least, that was what he was calling the planet. For some reason, the races of the planet had no other name for their world than 'the dragon realms.' But that name really only applied to the part of the world that the dragons ruled over, they had yet to explore much else of their home planet. However, Malefor had, and from he had seen he had his work cut out for him when it came to completely conquering either world.

They strode down from the catwalk and onto the main floor of the building, where various mercenaries stood guard, trained and maintained various kinds of hardware. Most of these Mercs only had small arms and light military vehicles, but that would be more than enough in the way of firepower for right now. He would save the big guns for when the majority of the fighting began.

The man led him outside of the warehouse and into the night air, the place looked almost deserted from the outside, save for a few guards posted to watch the entrances. The mercenary led him over to an adjacent warehouse, becoming increasingly tense as they approached the entrance to the building, where a pale-faced guard stood by the door, the two exchange a few words in Afrikaans before he swung the door open and aimed his weapon into the doorway, the other merc doing the same.

"Oh," remarked Thomas, "That kind of visitor... Wait," he turned to the man who had led him here "how would any of you know anything came through? None of you ever go in. "

"Those things grabbed Webber," replied the man, his voice shaking as his eyes darted from him to the door. " Carved your name into his chest, Mary, mother of Jesus, what even are they?"

"Under my control, and if you want to keep all of your extremities I suggest you keep your distance and don't provoke them." Thomas fixed the man with a grin, "Or don't, it keeps them entertained."

It only made sense, this was where he kept the shadow apes he brought to Earth, and it also happened to be the location of the only stable portal between Earth and Artisan, the Mercenaries had seen the Apes in action when Thomas had sic'ed them on a small-time militia who tried to take the compound, they butchered most of the attackers in broad daylight while he and his men watched, but then they dragged a couple off into the darkness of the warehouse, the screams that followed made the mercs more than wary of the creatures neighboring them.

Klein snorted and strode into the darkness without a second thought, the guards slamming the door shut behind him almost immediately. Almost as if on cue the two men began chatting away as if he wasn't still standing directly behind the door. To be fair the door was supposed to be solid steel, but he had more than a few of senses supercharged by aether.

"God, that kid is f**ked up." said the one who had led him here, Thomas vaguely remembered his name to be "Holland" or something like that.

"You don't have to tell me." Replied the other, Thomas wasn't sure of his name. " How much do you want to bet he won't walk out of there alive?"

"Not f***ing much, I'm not sure he's even human."

"You kidding me? Without those freaks behind him, he hasn't got s**t, we could put a bullet in his head and call it a day without so much as a second thought." Thomas tensed.

"You haven't seen what I have man," Holland replied, "you weren't there at the compound when General Afolabi decided to reject Klein's 'offer.' One second he was there, with five guns on him and the f**king idiot screaming in his face about how 'he was going to teach him respect' and the next thing I know he's holding the General's head by the hair and every one of us is on the floor. God, I still have the scars from that knife of his.

The two of them remained silent for a few more moments, almost to the point where Klein was about to leave when Holland spoke up once more.

"I have to get the f**k out of here."

"How the hell would you do that? You saw what happened to the last guy who tried to desert, those shadow things ran him down like it was nothing!"

"I don't know, look, those things are tough as hell but they aren't invincible, when they grabbed Webber I took a shot, you nail one in the head and it drops."

"Are you insane?! Do you remember what they did to the last one who shot at them!?"

"Something I don't intend on being around for, look, the way I see it, we either stay here and hope we live through whatever f**ked-up events that are currently underway, or we snag one of the trucks, drive like hell and kill any of those things that try to come after us."

The two remained silent for a few moments longer before Holland's partner spoke up;

"When?"

Holland took a few moments to reply but he eventually responded. "Five days from now, I've scrounged up enough supplies to last us a week out there, hopefully we make it to civilization before they run out."

The two men continued to chat about their soon-to-be escape attempt, all the while Thomas listened to them before finally tearing his attention away from the two deserters.

"Right, might need to have a talk about 'loyalty' after this, " he muttered, looking back at the door ruefully. Fear tactics weren't going to work much longer, he needed to find a way to earn the loyalty of these men if he was going to succeed. That meant he was going to have to make good on his promises of a reward soon.

The young man strode forward without a second thought, easily navigating the dark interior of the room without hesitation as dozens of green orbs tracked him from the shadows, almost all of the building's lights had been torn out, as the apes liked it that way, and the only source of light happened to be the painfully bright glowing of the portal between the two worlds. It had been the first self-sustaining one he had ever managed to create, and it had left him comatose for two days afterward.

In the middle of the empty space, several corpses lay strewn about, many of them bearing signs of torture, some had their eyes gouged out, others missing limbs and...other parts, and a select few seemed to have had their skeletons removed. He recognized the bodies of the rival militia that the apes had gotten a hold of, but he also saw a few of his own mercs and militia among the dead. What disturbed him the most was that the other bodies seemed to be civilians from the surrounding villages, normally he wouldn't care much about something like that, but these dead civilians meant that the apes had dragged the civilians here from one of the villages before they killed them, if anyone had seen the apes, then there could be stories, rumors, gossip, or even an escaped civilian, things that could get out of hand and bring a horde of armed townspeople, or worse, a UN investigator to the Warehouse.

He would have to see to it that these monsters' sadistic tendencies were kept in check before it became a problem. But that was a problem for another hour or so, right now he had a guest to greet. The portal writhed with arcane power as its creator approached it, wisps of energy shooting out into the darkness of the warehouse and illuminating the shapes of the shadow apes in the building's rafters. When the portal acted like this, it meant something was coming through on the other side. Something already had come through though, this was someone else/

"Nothing to worry about." He thought to himself, "you've seen it all before, all this is old news."

A bolt of aether-laden energy lanced out of the portal without warning, impacting the roof and creating a semi truck-sized hole in it and sending the pieces that weren't vaporized flying. The sudden light and noise sent the shadow apes into a frenzy, and the sounds of shrieking and howling filled the air, echoing off the walls off the building like screams in the head of a mad man.

That, however, was new.

Two more bolts exploded out of the portal, one arcing out at him while another into the rafters where two shadow apes sat hooting and roaring,

"F**K!"

Thomas threw himself to the side, his reflexes just barely able to save him from the bolt of energy which missed its mark by mere inches before flying off in the direction of the door, a half-second later he hears an explosion and a distant cry of pain, probably one of the guards. Normally he would laugh at that…. Unfortunately, the portal was currently trying to kill him at the moment.

"S**t, S**t,S**t" he chanted the word over and over as he held a hand up, a purple beam appearing out of his palm and blending with the portal as he strained to stabilize the portal, if this thing got out of control he had no idea what the consequences would be, but he had a feeling it would result in a crater where the warehouse once stood.

The energy swirled and churned, trying to break free of the proverbial leash Thomas had placed on it as he scrambled to sap the energy it was generating until whatever was trying to come through finally did. Suddenly the portal flashed and something stepped through, what it was Thomas wasn't sure, but when it did the portal finally calmed down. The energy that swirled and churned around the portal slowly returned to normal.

" _Phew!"_ Thomas whistled, "that was almost ba-"

" _ **THOOM!"**_

"FUUUUUUUU-"

A huge wave of force pushed out from the portal, sending Thomas flying back through the air and landing roughly on the ground. Directly in front of his first guest,

"On the ground before me already human?"

Thomas looked up and was met with the massive shape of an ape, not one of the shadow apes, but rather an actual, live one, though by the smell he was giving off he was just barely. This was the first ape from Artisan he had ever seen up close, though the boss had shown him some basic images in one of their meetings, this one was clearly one of the bigger examples, probably the biggest one there was considering who he was.

Gaul.

The former 'king' of the apes, he fit the profile, big, purple fur, scars on his scars and ugly on his ugly, Viking helmet, two big, green swords mounted on his back.

Apparently he had been brought back from the dead, how exactly Thomas had no idea, but here he was, in all of his big, rank, glory.

"King Gaul." Thomas got to his feet as the ape eyed him with disdain, "Or I suppose…." he chuckled and made a show of looking at what remained of the would-be king's race. "Just Gaul?"

"You mistake me for someone who holds remorse for their actions." the ape growled, stomping past Thomas with an uninterested expression on his baboon-like face. "My race was nothing more to me than a means to an end. They saw me as nothing more than the biggest and strongest of them all, if they had the chance, any one of them would have gladly stabbed me in the back and assumed my role as king."

"Still seems to me that I'm more of a king than you are at this point." Observed Thomas, putting on a cocky grin.

"A king to a race of brain-dead beasts, in the few moments I have known you I can say with confidence that fits you well."

Thomas scowled, this was already going south. "You know, this isn't the proper way to treat your new overlord."

Gaul turned on him. "My loyalty is to Malefor! Not to some arrogant child!" he snarled. "We are allies by mutual interest and nothing more!"

"And how long do you think he will be around for?" Thomas said in response. " I am Malefor's _heir_ , it won't be much longer until you take orders from me."

"Over my corpse!" Raged Gaul, grabbing the hilt of one of his swords. Thomas eyed it and a grin spread over his face. He opened his hand, a ball of pure aether forming in it as he shoved his hand into his pocket, flipping open the knife inside and gripping it tightly.

"Really Gaul? You're gonna fight me? What? Is this some sort of Machismo thing? Gotta protect your pride or some s**t? If I recall correctly, the last time you fought a convexity user, _you_ _lost_ , from what I heard you were pretty _broken up_ about it."

Gaul roared, drawing one of his blades and swinging overhead and down on Thomas in a single motion, Thomas whipped the knife out and met the blade with his own, the small blade just barely holding out against the massive sword. He slammed his aether-laden hand into the side of the sword, sending it flying to the left, Gaul attempted to draw his other blade but found Thomas' knife at his throat.

"Ha! Ha! Oh, I do love it when monkeys fight!" A shrill female voice echoed throughout the empty warehouse.

Immediately the Shadow apes in the rafters went into a frenzy, leaping and swinging around towards a single figure. Shortly afterward a shadow ape dropped, it's body missing a head. Seconds later, another one dropped, also headless. Thomas removed his knife from Gaul's throat, giving him a warning look, Gaul returned the look with his own fury-filled gaze but sheathed his blades as more and more corpses began to fall. All the while the same-piercing laughter rang out through the warehouse, sounding almost childlike.

Slowly but surely the bodies changed from being simply headless to missing limbs and sporting various cuts and slashes across their bones.

"What horror did you release from that portal, boy?" Gaul gazed up into the rafters with an unimpressed scowl, his eyes scanning the rafters for anything telling of what creature could kill so many shadow apes.

Thomas sighed, "Our next guest."

Thomas reached out immediately, ordering the monsters to stop attacking, normally the creatures would stop immediately, their wills tied to his own. But this time, they resisted, he felt their anger, their rage, their absolute need to kill the creature that occupied the rafters above them, he reached out to one of them in particular, seeing through its eyes as he pulled harder and harder on the magical reins that controlled them. He found the ape closest to the creature and used it vision to lay eyes on a…

" **CRK!** "

"F**K!"

The connection ended abruptly and violently as something impaled the shadow ape through the head. Not harming Thomas but definitely scaring the hell out of him, the same girlish laughter assaulted the other two occupants' ears once more. The shadow ape killed dropped from the rafters, with an icicle through its skull.

"There is only one kind of creature capable of such magic." Growled Gaul, drawing both his blades and taking a more combative stance.

A shape dropped from the top of the building, landing catlike onto the ground and flaring its wings out in a very flaunty manner. Giggling as her pure white scales reflected the light of the portal, giving them a snow-like appearance.

"Dragon!" Gaul swore and gripped his blades. Ready to attack once more, Thomas stepped between the two, ready to stop any unwanted violence.

"Etrika, the White Witch and current ruler of Dante's Freezer."

From the information the boss had given him, she was the daughter of a noble in Warfang before the city and the dragon race fell into decline after the war with the apes. When Malefor was ultimately defeated for the second time. She reappeared outside of Warfang a few months after the dark lord's supposed 'death.' Apparently she had moved up in the social structure of Warfang rather rapidly, and her skill in regards to her element were nigh-unmatched, allowing her to receive an invitation to be inducted into the Guardians, the recently reformed order of warrior-monk dragons that served as both scholars responsible for teaching young and an elite fighting force. To an outside observer, she seemed nothing more than a dedicated young dragon, if a little spoiled and childlike despite her station.

However, it appeared her true goals were a great deal more sinister, her actual goal was Cynder, one of the two saviors and mate to the purple dragon Spyro. Etrika appeared to have an obsession with the purple dragon. Seeing herself as the perfect mate, she had attained her position in order to get as close to the purple dragon as possible. So, the first chance she got, she attempted to remove Cynder from the picture. Thomas had seen enough anime to know what happened from there, first, it was through sabotage, then through subtle means of assassination, such as poisoning or the 'accidental' mishap when she was around. Until finally she was discovered after sneaking into the saviors' home and attempting to murder Cynder directly. Unfortunately for her, Spyro himself defeated her, evidently breaking her heart, and well, she was already pretty unhinged, so anyone could figure out what came next. Her obsession with becoming Spyro's mate became an obsession to make sure he would never be with anyone else, and the best way to do that would be to kill him. Of course, as talented as she was, she could never best him. So, about a week before her execution, she escaped Warfang, leaving several frozen and lacerated bodies in her wake, earning her the title of 'white witch.

She appeared two years later in that frozen wasteland of a fortress, that was where Malefor found her.

Dante's Freezer, yet another connection between Earth and Artisan, a parallel to the figurative 'Dante's Inferno." Though it was probably about as close to the ninth circle of hell as it gets. The island happened to be the former home of the Trolls, a proud warrior race that was believed to have ruled a great deal of the dragon realms in ancient times.

Now? It was a frozen wasteland-fortress, covered in crumbling fortifications and populated by hordes of undead trolls. Not even Malefor seemed to know how the nation fell, or why the trolls that remain are nothing more than an army of belligerent, shambling husks. When Cynder was still under Malefor's influence, she used the island as a means to contain the last remaining Guardian under the element of electricity, Volteer, somehow forcing the former king of the trolls to become his jailor. Despite this, the apes and the trolls struggled for control over the island before Malefor's return.

After the Apes were rendered almost extinct, the undead hordes regained control of the island. That was before Etrika arrived, the boss still had no idea how she did it, but Etrika seemed to have gained control over the trolls. She has since rebuilt the crumbling fortifications and somehow increased the number of undead trolls on the island, and seemed to be preparing the entire island for war. Most likely to attack the Dragon Realms and get her revenge, unfortunately for Warfang, they have no means to ascertain any information outside of their own kingdom save for sending scouts to observe the area, but between reconstruction efforts and the fact that the last dragons to set foot there were the Volteer and purple dragon himself, none of the dragons have any reason or want to travel to the frozen island. As far as they know, the island hasn't changed at all since Spyro's visit. However, the boss happened to have eyes almost everywhere, and through Thomas' spies in Warfang, he was able to learn of Etrika and found her and her armies.

She was cunning, deadly, and had the resources to both arm his non-human soldiers and bolster his forces with her own. But, she had barely any real combat experience, and everything she knew of war came out of books. Not to mention she wasn't mentally sound and appeared to have no other motivation than her own personal gain. Still, her knowledge of Warfang and the ice element would be pivotal in both his own training and the war that would soon follow.

"A pleasure," said the dragoness, giving the two a razor-toothed grin. "Especially at a distance in your case, ape."

"You called a dragon to this meeting!?" Gaul roared, staring accusingly at the human and glowering at him.

"What I did was follow Malefor's orders, you should do the same if you want to remain alive for the foreseeable future," replied the young man, not even flinching at the massive creature's gaze. Gaul cooled his fury somewhat at the mention of his master's name. The ape sheathed his blades once more and returned his face to a more neutral, unfeeling expression, which regarded the two of them as if they were nothing more than passing dust in the wind.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did my presence insult the would-be king?" Etrika's smug voice called from where she stood, her posture proud and no small amount of smugness radiating from the expression on her face. She was more graceful than the other dragons he had seen thus far. Her head lacking the angular structure that most of her kind, the only real part about her that was about as smooth as snow was her horns, which curved out of her head in a low arc on either side of her head.

"Know this, reptile." Gaul regarded the dragon with an uninterested expression," the only reason I have not removed your head from your shoulders as you had these _creatures_." He kicked one of the shadow-apes' bodies. "Is the fact that the master has a use for you."

"The reason why I am still alive, _ape,_ is because your 'master' has finally sought allies outside of his realm of influence. He has realized that his goals cannot be reached through his own power alone." Etrika maintained a curt smile as she approached, "And even if this wasn't so…."

Etrika opened her claw, a small whirlwind of icy water vapor swirling around within her palm before solidifying into a dagger, which she danced between he claws with as almost as dexterity as a human hand. A playful smile evident on her face as she did so.

"I believe you would find a rather _painful_ ordeal in attempting to harm me."

"Enough." Thomas looked between the two with a bored expression, "We can waste time trying to kill each other after we've accomplished our goals. Speaking of which, let's get down to it, shall we?"

Thomas looked to Etrika " I'm guessing by that whole 'menacing speech' and the fact that you've decided to show up you've accepted our offer?"

"No." Etrika looked at the boy, her expression holding the same mirthful smile, "I have come to hear out the proposal from the creature who claims to be Malefor's heir personally, I would see what power you possess and what your plan is regarding the fall of the dominion of the dragon realms."

Thomas raised his eyebrow, this was unexpected, but not surprising,

"Fair enough." Thomas shrugged and closed his knife, shoving it into his pocket and keeping his hands in both pockets. "I suppose now that everyone I expected to show is here we might as well begin. I assume by now you must be wondering where you are, this is Earth, my home planet. Please, forgive the mess." He gestured to the large number of human corpses on the ground.

Etrika's eyes widened considerably. Gaul's did the same, though only slightly, clearly they hadn't paid much attention to their surroundings.

"T-then…" Etrika looked around her, suddenly aware of her alien surroundings.

"I am not of your planet." Thomas said calmly, "to you, I am an alien, as you are to me. I have brought you both here because not only does Malefor want the Dragon realms crushed, he wants both my and your world subjugated under his power, however, due to his defeat three years ago, his power is waning, he will not live much longer, and wishes to see those who have put him in this state suffer and die. In return for completing this task, he will reward me with what remains of his power and give me rule over my planet, should you choose to join us, you will be rewarded with territory on your planet, as well as much power as you want. Gaul, despite his apathy towards his race, will see his people revived and his position as king of the apes restored, in addition to a large amount of power and territory."

Etrika's pupils dilated as she took in this information, silently pondering the information as she nodded silently.

"Due to the resources at your disposal, we wish to use Dante's freezer as a factory and fortress to supply and arm the soldiers we have on your planet."

"Will any of your kind be taking part in this war?" Asked Etrika, her expression not dissimilar from that of a politician negotiating with other countries' representatives.

"As a matter of fact, they will, I have acquired several mercenaries."

"Forgive my saying so…" Etrika cut back in, "But in a fight against dragons, from what I see, looking at you, a human would not do much against a dragon, maybe against the other races in Warfang, but a dragon could kill something of your stature in moments."

"Right you are." Replied Klein "If you were to look at many of the natural predators here on Earth, you would say the same thing. Human power does not rely on natural weaponry or defense mechanisms. Instead, we have grown to power through the use of technology."

"Technology?" Repeated Etrika skeptically.

"Yep," the young man quickly began walking back to where he came in, seeing the part of the building was reduced to rubble by the stray bolt of energy from the portal. In the debris, he saw Holland, barely conscious and bone sticking out of his left leg. He relieved the man of his rifle and picked the man up, dragging him by his Kevlar vest as he groaned in pain.

"This man saw fit to conspire with another member of my little army to desert his post," Said Thomas, his tone upbeat as he dragged the man along behind him. "So, I suppose I should kill two birds with one stone here."

He set the man roughly down against a support beam, causing him to groan as he took stock of his surroundings and settled his gaze on Gaul and Etrika.

"What the f**k!" The man's eyes went wide as he suddenly began trying to get to his feet.

"Oh, quiet you." Thomas gave him a kick in the ribs, effectively knocking the wind out of the man.

"Anyways, _this_." He held the rifle up for both of them to see. "Is what my kind call a gun, a weapon capable of firing small projectiles faster, farther, and harder than any bow could ever shoot. Think of it as a miniaturized cannon."

Thomas aimed the rifle at Holland, the man's eyes went wide once again and he held a hand up.

"Don't you f**king do it Klien…..please,"

Thomas grinned.

" _Observe."_

He fired the weapon on full auto, cutting the man down as the 5.56 ammunition tore his body apart. Much to the astonishment of his audience.

"Fascinating!" Etrika closed the distance between her and the boy, looking over the weapon with fervorous curiosity. Gaul stayed where he was, observing Holland's corpse with reserved astonishment.

"This runs off the same kind of powder as the dynamite your apes once used, Gaul."

"Powerful." The ape commented neutrally.

"This is just what a standard rank and file soldier carries on my world. There are far, far worse weapons that we have created. Due to this, it will be a great deal harder to conquer Earth than it will be your planet."

The two leaders nodded, he had their attention now. "So, we take your planet first, let it be a staging area for the invasion of Earth."

"And how do you plan on taking this world?" Etrika gave Thomas a look of curiosity.

"I'll burn that bridge when I come to it." Replied Thomas, "For now, I believe I have provided all the information you should need to make a decision. Gaul is already on board, as he is loyal to Malefor. All we need is your answer."

Etrika stepped away from Klien, deep in thought as she weighed her options.

"Very well." Etrika's playful smile returned to her face. "Dante's Freezer is yours…"

Thomas fist-pumped internally.

"Under one condition."

"Crap," he thought.

"I want Spyro," Etrika said, her eyes gleaming with cold malice. "Alive, break him, torture him, cut his legs and wings off and mount them on your wall, but he will be given to me alive."

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." muttered Thomas. "Alright, I'll see what I can do." He held his hand out. "We have an agreement then?"

Etrika observed the outstretched hand and slowly reached her claw out, grasping his hand in her talons.

"Ow, ow, f**k, ow." Thomas struggled not to rip his hand out of her grasp, he shook the claw and slowly let go, revealing three deep wounds where the claws punctured the flesh. He hid the wound by clasping his hands behind his back.

"Excellent!" He said, putting on a friendly mood, "I would give you both a tour of the base, but my people haven't seen either of your kind before and would likely shoot you, soooooo."

He gestured to the portal. "If step on back into that portal it'll take you back to your Freezer."

Etrika looked to the portal and back to Thomas. "You won't be coming?"

"Unfortunately, no, I've got a few more matters to settle here before my forces are ready, so until then you will be dealing with Gaul for the foreseeable future."

Etrika gave Thomas a weird look before looking over to the ape and giving him a scowl. Which he returned.

"Fine." She pouted, "But I want to see more of you and your kind are capable of, Sir….?"

"Klein, Thomas Klein"

"Very well, Sir Klein." Etrika made her way to the portal, walking with a sort of regal elegance back to the portal. Just before she entered, she looked back and gave Thomas another sharp-toothed grin. "I look forward to working with you in the future."

The White Witch stepped through the portal and in a burst of light, disappeared.

"I didn't take you for a merchant, boy." Gaul strode past him towards the portal.

"What do you mean?"

"You seemed to sell the reptile on what she will receive, and yet did not warn her of the danger we face."

"What?" What danger? I showed you both the guns!"

"And you did not see fit to tell her of the other heir? Or the danger to our cause that lies beyond the dragon realms?!"

"They aren't important at the moment."

"How long will it be until they _are_ important?"

"The dragons are a prideful race, Gaul, they would rather perish in a blaze of glory than ask for assistance, and besides, once I get the fourth member of our little league on board, we'll be able to crush the tree-huggers no problem."

"And the other heir?"

"He's my problem. One that will be dealt with soon enough."

"I saw the Purple Dragon in the same light as you saw him, human, if you don't crush him now, he will become a thorn in your side you will never remove."

"Yeah, yeah, we'll see about that." Replied Thomas.

"Arrogance will be the death of you, Thomas Klein." Gaul turned and stomped to the portal. "And when you fail the master and the other human is still alive, it will be me who is left standing, and I will finish what you started."

Gaul disappeared into the portal, leaving Thomas alone with his thoughts. He strode out of the building over the rubble that was the entrance, noticing a man sitting just outside of the building, clutching his rifle to his chest with pale hands and a pale face. It was the other guard, the one Holland had been speaking with. He approached the man, resting his foot on a pile of rubble and leaning on his knee.

"You see all that?" He asked the merc, the man nodded slowly.

"Then I take it you know what happens to people who desert?"

Another nod.

"Great!" Thomas stood up, grabbed the man by his vest-straps and set him on his feet.

"What's your name buddy?"

"Alake." The man stammered

"Well then, Alake, walk with me."

Thomas strode back into the main building with Alake following close behind.

"Let's talk promotion."

* * *

Author's note:

Hooo, boy. That is a long chapter right there.

There is a large amount of foreshadowing here, I hope I did it the right way, as well as the introduction of two new villains. (Insert Billie Eilish Song here.) The whole OC thing was a pain to figure out, (Yandere as hell.) but she has a lot more to her than what's been explained here. I'm happy to see people are liking Hiraeth, I don't have any intention of stopping the story until its done, but if I do I'll post it on my page or something. As always, criticism is appreciated and have yourself a wonderful day.

Until the next chapter.


	9. Chapter 8: The Cage

**Chapter 8: The Cage**

When I came to, I found myself in a dark, dank pit that smelled like something had crawled in here to die, a moment later I discovered that the 'something' in question was myself.

"Oh God," I thought, " Am I in a grave?"

I opened my eyes slightly, seeing nothing above me as panic crawled into my mind, I hastily reached my arms out in front of me, hoping beyond hope that I would be able to move them at all. I breathed a sigh of relief as I felt both arms fly up and hang there with plenty of space to spare. I dropped my arms back down, and attempted to sit up, but stopped as a wave of pain crashed over me.

My legs, one arm and part of my torso were absolutely on fire, leaving me exhausted and in too much pain to do anything other than lay here and take the pain, no matter how bad it was.

I groaned softly and eased myself back onto the ground, my legs felt like battered hell, and I could barely see my hands in front of my face, but at least I was alive. A check of myself revealed several serious-looking wounds on my person, all scabbed over, there was dried blood all over me and I wanted nothing more than to take a hot shower.

" _Yeah, like that's gonna happen."_

I shifted my eyes, searching for any sign of evidence as to where I was. I waited for a few moments to see if my eyes to adjust but found that no matter how long I waited I couldn't see anything. I could, however, hear something, crickets, dozens of them, and the crackling of what sounds like fire meaning I was still in the forest and it was late. The last thing I remembered was someone talking and that it had been daytime when they had been. I had no idea who they were or whether or not Nara was even….

"..."

" _Nara…"_

" _I-I promise."_

I nearly killed myself trying to sit up, the pain making me cry out as I got a better look at my surroundings. With my improved point of view, my sudden burst of panic-induced motivation was cut short as I found a source of light, which actually was fire, or more accurately, a torch on the other side of a set of bars blocking me from getting out.

I was in a cell, the room nothing more than reinforced dirt and a bunch of wooden stakes secured with what looked like twine rope to create a door. A single torch sat burning outside allowing me to see the silhouettes of buildings completely surrounding me. Nara's mentioning of our destination returns to my memory and I realize that this must be the Cheetah village.

That means what most likely happened is that some of the 'cheetahs' must have found us and brought us back to their village. Good, Nara said she was on good terms with them, with any luck she's in a bed somewhere recovering from her wounds.

The images from last night suddenly played through my mind like a DVD on fast-forward, absolutely everything hitting me at the same time, the revelation that it brought hit me like a brick to the head.

My sudden burst of strength and speed, me killing the shadow apes, that purple light…

I fell back from the bars, my exhaustion, coupled with my fear and now this, it was a good thing I hadn't eaten in days because I would have puked up everything I had in me. I plopped down on my butt as my hands began to shake.

It all made sense now, I was like him, like _Klein,_ given the same power as he had, Malefor was looking for an heir. This power must be the prerequisite, that must be why I'm in this 'competition' at all. To be honest, Klein would suit the role of "dark master" better than I ever could, ruthless, a complete sociopath, and more than capable of killing me. I got the feeling that I was more of a plan B to Malefor than anything else, nothing more than a backup should Klein decide to do his own thing or betray him.

But something felt off about this whole 'competition' idea, if I was a threat to Klein's plans he should have offed me with the rest of my family back when he burned my home to the ground. I thought at first it was just him toying with me, drawing out my suffering to entertain his sick whims. But now I know Malefor is the one pulling the strings here, if he ordered Klein to keep me around there must be a bigger reason behind it.

Did… did Malefor order Klein to kill my parents? My Brother? Was I the reason they died?

" _Oh God, no, please God no."_

Nara almost died last night, my parents and brother _are dead,_ Klein went after all of them to get to me.

" _Nonononono…"_

I held my head in my hands, scooting away from the bars in a grieved panic, as struggled not to break down and cry again, I bit my lip and screwed my eyes shut as tears flowed down my face like drops of water from a leaking tap.

" _D**n it!"_

I slammed my wounded arm against the wall in a fit of rage, I hated that I let this happen, hated that I couldn't have stopped it, and most of all I hated Klein.

I kept slamming my arm into the wall, trying desperately to drown out the anger I felt with pain, which only led to me hurting my arm further as I silently stewed in my cell, unable to do anything to relieve myself of the guilt I felt.

I sat there like that for what felt like hours, trying to mute my sobs while slamming my wounded arm against the wall. Eventually, my arm gave out, so did my emotions leaving me staring at the other end of the cell with a dead look in my eyes. At one point I thought about ending it, just giving up and joining my family, but my Dad would have backhanded me if he knew I was thinking like this.

" _I can't do this.."_ I thought after some time, _" You see this kind of crap in movies, but to go through it.."_

"Crap," I whispered, my arm was absolutely exploding with pain after my little outburst, I was definitely going to feel that in the morning. Actually, I was feeling it right now, my bandages had come undone, and they hung loosely under my clothes, I felt under them and discovered that the injuries I had gotten on my arrival had finally scabbed over, the cuts and bruises I had sustained hurt like hell, but at least I didn't need to worry about bleeding out.

Nara, however, may not have that luxury, I knew jack-s**t about dragon anatomy, I doubt anyone back on Earth did seeing as we all thought they were myths until now. The injuries she received may very well have been fatal to her.

I sighed, it killed me not knowing where I was and whether she was safe or not, but it looked like the only chance I had was to stick it out and wait for something to happen.

I grumbled to myself as I shifted around, letting me look outside, it had been a hell of a day, the impossible suddenly becoming possible, meeting a dragon, walking through a forest that looked like something straight out of Middle Earth. If the circumstances weren't so dire I might have nerded-out over the whole situation, I used to love stuff like this, now? I just wanted a f**king bed to sleep in.

Outside of the cage, cicadas chirped, leaving the night air filled with a constant buzzing, the torch crackled as the wind whistled through the bars, chilling me to the bone as what was left of my clothes offered little protection against the weather.

" _It's your fault,"_ the wind seemed to whisper to me, it's cold bite seemingly punishing me for my inability to save anyone

The promise I made was still fresh in my mind, I don't know why or how I made the connection between that day in the woods and last night, but Nara was definitely the only friend I had, and for now, I guess that fit the conditions of my promise. I didn't know who I made that promise to out there in that field.

My Father? Nara? Myself? I just remember thinking that I wouldn't let anyone close to me down again, I would die before they did, at least then it would mean something. Even if I hadn't made that promise, Nara had my back and risked her life, even when I offered mine to save her. The least I could do is have her back from now on.

But there was more than just some promise I made in the woods at stake, Klein and Malefor wouldn't stop at my death alone, and it was apparent that they would be going after the dragons' city one way or another. Who knows what could happen after that, Klein had influence in both worlds, leading a group of people who had no qualms about killing innocents on earth, and he had a horde of shadow monsters on this side of things.

Klein's smug grin flashed across my vision, and I grit my teeth, he murdered my family, and God knows how many more he'll kill if he goes on like this.

" _I have to make this right,"_ I thought, determination flaring in my chest, _"If it's my fault I'll do something to make up for it."_

Klein wanted me to play his game? Fine, I'll play, even if that means that I'll end up dead at the end of it, as long as Klein and Malefor go down with me, I'll take that as a win. I had powers, though I had no idea how to use them, but if they were anything like that smug bastard's then I had a half-decent chance of winning against him if I figured them out.

I got to my knees and walked over to the bars once more, I could see light peeking over the horizon, I guessed that it would be another hour or so before the sun actually appeared, plenty of time to come up with a plan.

" _Alright Aran,"_ I thought to myself as I put my back to the bars; _"What's step one?"_

Nara, she was my best hope of making it to Warfang, and the closest thing I had to a friend in this world, making sure she was alive and well was my first order of business.

I sighed, of course, getting to her meant getting out of this cage, with the ridiculous amount of lacerations and other injuries I had on my person, I didn't see that happening unless my captors decided to let me out.

That was another problem, usually, when you threw someone in a cage when you either didn't want them to leave, you didn't want them to cause trouble, or both. I didn't really think I could do either by myself at the moment, but then again, from what I remembered I passed out surrounded by the bones of the shadow apes I had killed. If the cheetahs who had brought me here put two and two together, then they had a mysterious being who just ripped apart a bunch of Malefor's minions, getting them to trust would be an issue, but hopefully, Nara would be able to vouch for me.

" _I just have to convince them not to kill me until then."_

I closed my eyes, there wasn't much else to do except sleep and think, and I had done more than my fair share of thinking for now.

* * *

" **THUMP!"**

I was woken up by something smacking the bars on the other side, smacking me in the head in the process.

"OW!"

Great, now I had a headache to add to my list of things that hurt.

I turned around and got my first look at the cheetahs, they were bipedal, with their entire bodies covered in fur that varied in color, all but one lacked the spots that I was expecting to see. Their faces were feline in nature, with their ears pointed above their heads, at the end of their arms there were four-fingered hands that seemed to work just as well as mine did, while their feet were more animalistic in shape, causing them to stand in a tiptoe-like fashion while the rest of the foot arched up like a high-heel.

It didn't take me long to discern that these were probably children, as they were rather small and had been kicking around a ball, which had been the thing that hit me in the head and had woken me up.

I stared at them, wide-eyed and at a loss for something to say to them, they were all wearing clothing. Something that implied intelligence, and seeing as how Nara spoke English I'm hoping they did too.

The children, or cubs maybe? Stared at me with wide eyes, all of them were as silent as I was, and inspecting them further allowed me to tell the difference between male and female, with the girls in the group possessing more slender features and a lithe body shape. Boys possessed more angular features and broadness across the shoulders.

There were two girls and four boys in the group, their fur color, clothing, and subtle differences in their facial structure being the only thing I could use to tell them apart.

I turned all the way around to see the ball they were using, a solid, tough-looking thing that seemed to be made out of the leather of some animal. The cubs gasped slightly at my movement, bunching up and continuing to stare at me, I looked at the ball and looked at them, deciding words weren't going to work well with children, I reached out of the bars and batted the ball, sending it rolling back to them.

One of the children stepped forward to pick up the ball, and another held him back, however, the child shrugged them off, cautiously moving to the ball without taking their eyes off me, he quickly picked up the ball and scurried back to the safety of his group, his red fur bristling as he did so.

The entire group then began shuffling away from me, before suddenly turning and running off, their tails flicking wildly as they ran.

Almost immediately I noticed the light of the sun searing my eyeballs into oblivion, I blinked and squinted as I looked out into the town, seeing it bustling with life, with women and children and the occasional man walked throughout, seemingly unaware of my presence.

I slid back down into a sitting position, I hoped that had been a good first impression, I didn't know what else to do at the moment, but hopefully that it did something to work in my favor. I sighed, I couldn't sleep to kill time now, all that I could do was wait.

" _I don't know what it is, chief, but it's no friend of apes."_

The voice was distant, male by the sound of it, but the word "chief" stood out to me, that meant the leader of the town, what was his name?

" _I don't care about its relation to the d**ned apes, Claude, what I want to know if the creature I brought into my town is a threat !_

" _Sir, I-"_

"We _could have very well endangered everyone in the village by taking him in!"_

It's on the tip of my tongue, starts with a "p."

"Proudus, no that's not it." I muttered to myself trying to remember the cheif's name.

"Pimus, Pridus, Proodus?"

" It was quite literally atop a pile of bones when we found it alongside Miss Nara." The voices grew ever closer, "But it had her dagger, the one you gave her."

"Pringles, Primus, Prindle?"

" _Hmph, that dragon always seems to bring some new burden to us whenever she appears."_

"Prownus? No, no, no, _Prowlus!_ That was it!"

"..."

I turn around, prepared to face the town's chief with the knowledge of his name in hand, and both of them are standing right in front of me when I do.

" _S**t."_

I laugh nervously, "I'm guessing you heard that?"

I was faced by two male cheetahs, one stood about a half foot over me, while the other likely stood an entire foot and a half, the smaller of the two seemed to be dressed in a hooded tunic and woven leather greaves, which were colored in slightly deeper blue than his fur. He seemed to be younger than the taller one, who I assumed to be Prowlus, his fur being a dark red with a striped pattern on his head and arms.

The younger of the two nodded, his eyes wide, presumably because of the discovery that I spoke the same language he did.

" _Well… this is a fine crock of s**I've found myself in."_ I mentally scrambled to find the right words to say, some sort of action that would leave me in a favorable position in what would most likely be the first contact between a human and a member of Avalar's race of Cheetahs.

Prowlus eyed me with a mixture of astonishment and distrust, his face a stoic mask that spoke volumes of his experience as a leader, he didn't know anything about me, but I could tell he was the type that would sooner die than let any of his people see the fear on his face. The younger of the two stood with far less confidence, his stance shifting constantly and his eyes shifting between me and his chief.

"Ok, this is not how I really wanted this to go, but, seeing as how I don't have a choice…"

I got to my knees, attempting to look as respectful as possible,

"Chief Prowlus, my name is Aran Hallanday, I have no intention of harming anyone in this village, but I _would_ like to see my friend."

"Friend?" Prowlus' expression remained unchanged, his eyes carrying no sympathy as they regarded me cooly.

"Nara, Earth dragon, green scales, kind of sassy."

The younger one flinched at my use of her name, did he know her?

Prowlus continued to stare at me, his expression leaving me clueless as to what he was truly thinking. He seemed thoughtful, but I could still clearly see that he didn't trust me as far as he could throw me, assuming cheetahs weren't extremely strong and could chuck me like a football across a backyard.

Prowlus narrowed his eyes, " _Explain._ "

I widened my eyes, I was surprised I was even being given a chance to explain myself,

"She was contracted to transport me to Warfang…"

The younger one scoffed, interrupting me,

"Nara was paid to take some random ape-creature, to the dragons' capital city of all places?" The younger one scoffed, interrupting me.

"Yes, actually…'

Prowlus looked to his subordinate, eyeing him with what looked like condescension.

"Claude."

The now-named cheetah looked to the chief, who glared at him imposingly, Claude averted his eyes and bowed his head.

"Sorry, sir."

Prowlus looked back to me, gesturing for me to continue, I stammered briefly, my words caught in my mouth before I regained my train of thought.

"She found me in the forest, and the next thing I know, she was leading me through the woods, we traveled for about a day, made camp near a small river, and then those shadow-things attacked us."

Prowlus' eyes widened, the first time I had seen a crack in his composure so far.

"These shadow-creatures, green eyes? Looked to be made of smoke? "

I nodded, of course, he knew what I was talking about, Nara had said he had lived through the war against Malefor, it only made sense that he would remember what his old enemy looked like.

Upon my answer, Prowlus' eyes widened, he suddenly turned, taking Claude with him as he spoke to him in hushed tones.

"What?!" Claude exclaimed, panic sneaking into his voice like water through a cracked wall.

Prowlus shushed him, "Keep your voice down! We cannot risk a panic!"

"Hey!" I called out after them, "What about Nara!?"

They ignored me, continuing on as the two of them headed out of sight, talking as they went.

"Hey! HEY!"

I sighed, they weren't coming back, not for a while anyway, so that was Prowlus, he was… admittedly a lot less skeptical than I thought he was going to be, I had no doubt he still didn't trust me at all, but at least he didn't order Claude to burn me at the stake, so there was that. Unfortunately, that exchange left me no closer to getting to Nara than I was before, Klein wasn't going to wait around for us to get to Warfang, every second I wasted was one someone else Klein could be killing.

I shifted uncomfortably back into a sitting position, growling with frustration. I hated this, the pain, the uncertainty, the near-impossible odds of me getting out of this alive, and the waiting, God, how I _loathed_ the waiting, and of course, that was exactly what I would be doing for the foreseeable future.

"Lucky me…."

* * *

 **(A Few Hours Later)**

"What are you?"

"GAHSGJK!"

I was jolted out of my near-sleep state as a female voice cut through the otherwise-silent air, I had been preoccupying myself with watching the various townspeople go about their days through the limited view the entrance of the cell offered, some of them carried weapons, others wicker baskets of food and clothing that I assumed to be laundry. The vast majority cast uneasy glances in my direction, avoiding eye-contact and ushering their children away from my cell when they got too close.

I had gotten so used to the semi-silence of the town that I had fallen back asleep, I supposed that was a good thing, considering it was one less thing that kept me from sleeping. Unfortunately, I seemed to have developed another obstacle in the process in the form of a young cheetah woman, who knelt in front of my cage with a curious expression. Her red fur bristling in cautious excitement.

She cocked her head, a small smile of amusement appearing on her face, she giggled slightly before sliding a small wooden plate of meat through the bars. The smell coming off of it was enough to make my stomach feel like a black hole, I eagerly took the plate as soon as her hand left it and tore into the meat, not even caring that I was using my bare hands to eat.

I ate ravenously, the meat was lean, somewhat gamey, I could only assume it was deer meat, I had eaten deer only once before, I barely remembered the taste from the first time, but something about the texture reminded me of deer.

"Good?" The girl asked.

I nodded, still chewing as I handed the plate back to her, she nodded in approval.

"Shot the beast myself, nice to hear at least _some_ one found a use for my kill."

I tensed, somewhat off-put by her bluntness, but nodded all the same.

"Thank you, I haven't eaten in a while."

She gave a slight gasp, "So, you do talk like us."

"It would appear so," I replied.

"So, what _are_ you anyway?"

"Not an ape."

She sighed, "I put that together after we found you in a pile of their bones."

I shrugged in response, "Well, my kind is sorta related to them, so I was thinking you might have drawn a connection."

The girl placed the plate beside her and sat down near the entrance of my cage, "Some of us have." She said in a somewhat dour tone.

"Why haven't you?" I crawled closer to the entrance, this was the most talkative cheetah in the village by far, she could be a valuable source of information, from her tone, she seemed to be in a bit of a mood. As much as my conscience disagreed with it, I could use it to my advantage, and pry as much information as I could out of her.

"Nara, she's a friend to both me and my brother and appears to be one of the select few dragons my father trusts, even if he won't say it openly. The dagger you carried was one given to her by my father as a sign of that trust, the fact you had it on you speaks volumes."

I pause, Nara had given the dagger to me as a message?

"Your father gave her the dagger?"

"Yes, it is customary for outsiders who have earned the trust of the chief to be presented with a blade, to show the clan's support of their hunt. However, seeing as how you are an unknown being who was found among the remains of some of the fiercest monsters to ever stalk the valley of Avalar, many of us are fearful, they don't trust you, and for now the only thing keeping you alive is Nara's reputation and the somewhat positive impression you have left on the cubs. "

I smile internally, maybe that whole thing with the ball did help me out after all, and if her father gave Nara that dagger...

"You're Prowlus' daughter?"

"I am."

Well, that was lucky, I would do well to ingratiate myself with her, I could use an advocate besides Nara, speaking of which:

"How is Nara?"

"She is alive if that is what you are concerned about, though she is unconscious, and has been for the past few days, regardless she will heal with time."

"Thank God, wait... a few days? How long have we been here?"

"You both have been here for four days, I was personally unsure if you would survive, seeing as how my father denied you any medical attention, but against all odds, here you are."

I sighed, four days… Warfang could have already fallen in that time, and I would have been none the wiser, I felt like I should have been upset about Prowlus denying me medical help, but I couldn't muster the energy to be mad, just mildly annoyed.

"Yeah, I guess I've been making a habit of not dying when I should have."

The girl's face appeared in front of the cage once more, I looked up to meet her gaze.

"Those are not the words of one who celebrates their survival."

"No, I don't suppose they are."

"..."

She returned to her original position, sitting next to the entrance, she didn't say anything for a while and neither did I, and the two of us sat in silence for a while.

Did I want to die?

I entertained the idea, there was no surefire way to do it at the moment, and death by starvation would prove to inevitably be a long and agonizing fate. I don't think my promise to Nara would be able to be kept if I did choose the easy way out. I was probably the reason she was hurt at all, probably the reason my family was dead. But for some reason I didn't want it, I was still here, I still wanted to live, I still wanted to make things right, maybe that was why I kept surviving, in spite of everything, I was still holding on to whatever promise or guilt that I had and that was what kept me going.

"You are right."

I the telltale rustling sounds of the girl getting to her feet, I looked back outside to see her on her feet.

"About what?"

"You are most certainly _not_ an ape, from what I was told, apes were shameless individuals, willing to do anything to survive. The guilt you carry is as plain on your face as your eyes."

I shrugged, not really much I could do about that.

"So, mind telling me _what_ you are?"

"Human," I replied, might as well spill it, didn't see much harm in telling her.

"Human?"

"Yup."

She held a hand to her chin, trying the word out several times before giving a " _hmph,"_ of approval.

"Am I to assume you have a name?"

"Aran, and yours?"

"Fennah."

I gave her a weary smile through the bars; "a pleasure to meet you."

She returned the smile, standing and giving me a nod before walking off somewhere, leaving me to my thoughts, but one question plagued my thoughts, one that needed answering.

"Hey!" I called after her, unlike her father, she actually turned around.

"Why are you even talking to me?"

She smiled; "I trust Nara too."

I sat back down without another word, Nara seemed to have my back in every sense of the word, whether it be through connections or through her previous actions. I had a tall bill to pay when it comes to repaying her, for now, the best I could do for her was to stay here and earn the trust of the cheetahs.

Until then, I'm spending the next few days in a cage.


	10. Chapter 9: A Choice Made and News

**Chapter 9: A Choice Made/News**

" _Well, I gotta say Aran, you f**king lunatic."_ Klein paced in front of me, smiling his usual s**t-eating smile with his hands clasped behind his back.

" _You can actually kick a** after all."_

I glared at Klein from my side of the void, my eyes glued to his as I stood with my arms crossed, silently seething.

"I mean, I figured you were a fledgling bada** after I paid you a visit for the first time, but _now_ there's legitimate proof!"

A snarl tugged at the corners of my mouth, I could feel my blood boiling as he continued to rant and joke, knowing full and well that his words' only purpose to get under my skin.

He turned to me, noticing my expression.

" _Aw, c'mon!"_ Klein walked up to me, getting in my face. " Ya can't say you didn't enjoy it in the least bit, kicking my little friends' a**es should have at least given you a little satisfaction."

I would hit him if I could, _God,_ I really wanted to hit him, but the last time I tried that in this dreamworld that he cooked up, I ended up with my face on the non-existent ground. But what was worse was that Klein was speaking the absolute truth, after my initial discovery of my own powers I had panicked, but after that, I couldn't shake the feeling that I had finally pushed back against Klein, that after every punch he'd thrown I had finally thrown one right back. But even then, I had a feeling it was exactly what he had wanted me to do.

I stepped back wordlessly putting space between the two of us, I sighed.

"What's this about Klein?" I spat, every word laced with venom.

"Why, my dear boy, I thought you would never ask!"

Klein stepped back, grinning childishly as he raised a hand. Instantly the black void shifted, and we both were standing on a cliff, in the distance stood a massive city protected by a wall. It's stone ramparts adorned with dozens of anti-siege weapons, with a massive wooden door that looked sturdy enough to take a hit from a tank. Looking beyond the wall, I could see the tops of towers, their metallic roofs shining in the light, beyond that I could see several more walled-off sections of the city, rising higher as the buildings climbed the mountain that the metropolis seemed to be built on, and on the top of it all? A castle, right out of every last fantasy movie and game I had ever played. It was amazing to see in person, the city in its entirety brought a feeling similar to when I had seen a picture of the great wall of china as a child, it's size boggling my mind.

"Say hello to Warfang." Klein said.

This was my destination? It definitely was a city that deserved a name like Warfang, the entire place was unlike anything I had seen on Earth. Below us lay a valley, it's rolling hills covered in grass as the wind blew through them, causing the hills to ripple and sway like waves in a green ocean, I followed the valley until it reached the base of a mountain several miles away from where we were, no, not a mountain, a volcano, it was dormant one but it was bigger than any other volcano that I had ever seen on Earth.

I took the sight in, unable to find words as I surveyed the scene, it was amazing, a city as big as Warfang was an amazing sight by itself, but alongside the volcano and the valley? It was like something straight out of a work of art.

"I know, right?" Klein approached me. "Dropped my jaw the first time I saw it, this place is something else."

I may have hated him, but I agreed, it was beauti-

"Annnnd bye-bye!"

Instantly the entire city vanished in a flash of light, moments later the light faded and massive mushroom cloud rose up where Warfang once stood. I stood dumbfounded as I stared at the rapidly forming crater that used to be a city, it didn't take a genius to realize what had just happened.

"Just a little idea I had, the boss wants Warfang off the map? This is what I had suggested for him to do, all it would take is a bit of nuclear material and the right people for the job."

I turned back to Klein. "Why are you showing me this?"

He shrugged, "I was bored, figured I would regale you with a bit of evil monologue, don't worry about the nuke by the way, the boss wants Warfang off the map in the 'conquest' sort of way. I suppose he wants to use the city in some way or another, I dunno."

The mushroom cloud suddenly collapsed in on itself, the smoke and dust suddenly being sucked back into the blast's epicenter before the flash returned, disappearing seconds later to reveal the city once again.

"What is all this _really_ about?" Is turned back to him.

He gave a huff of mock-frustration.

"After all the trouble I went to so you could see this and you're still about nothing but business, huh?" He laughed lightly; "You want to know so bad? Fine."

Klein turned to me, looking me in the eye.

"I'm showing you this because I want you to give up, Aran, take the easy way out, cut and run." Klein walked into my point of view, "Malefor wanted you here but he can't force you to participate in all this."

For the first time ever I heard something akin to sympathy enter my enemy's voice, his face had shifted to a darker expression, and he averted his eyes, a frown on his face as he refused to look at me.

"Call it fear, call it laziness, even guilt if you f**kin' have to, but I'd much rather deal with one aether user than two. It's already going to be hard enough to take down Spyro, I can't even imagine how much of a b**ch it'll be to kill you both if you decide to work together."

I raised an eyebrow, "Aether-users? What are you talking about?"

"Those powers you got? I have them too, I'm powerful as s**t as it is, but I haven't hit my limit yet, and you haven't either. So I'd rather you quit before you get strong enough to even have a chance of beating me. So, what do you think?"

I shifted uncomfortably, it didn't feel right for Klein to be talking to me like this he felt, _honest._ Then again, I couldn't say for sure why exactly he's told me even half the things he has, it seemed like no small tactical blunder to feed your enemy intel about your own plans, maybe it was false information, maybe he was toying with me, I couldn't say for sure, but no matter what the case, I wasn't about to take him at his word, not after what he's done.

"You think I'm going to just stand by and let you play evil overlord after all of this?" I growled, my voice as cold as ice, "After you murdered my family, tried to kill the only other person who offered to show me any kindness?" I scowled at him.

"Don't get me wrong," Klein replied, "If I had my way, you would've been dead when I first made you walk the path of Bruce Wayne that night at your home."

He met my gaze once again, and I felt a shiver run up my spine, his eyes held something beyond hatred, something beyond malice, something so determined and so cold that it almost felt inhuman.

"Malefor wants you alive until he feels you're strong enough to face me, and despite my own desires and thoughts, I'm obliged to follow his orders. So until he lets me off the leash, all I can do is act like a bully on a playground, I can push you around, take your stuff, break your _toys,_ stuff like that _._ " He chuckled.

I grit my teeth, my hands clenching into fists.

"But if you stay on the path you're on as of right now, you're going to get stronger, strong enough maybe even to rival me. Now, I wouldn't bet on you winning this little game, but I know a threat when I see one, and my life would be one-thousand percent easier without you in it."

"The feeling's mutual," I replied. To my surprise, he nodded in acknowledgement, he turned his back on me and began pacing once more, walking up to the bottom of the cliff and peering over it.

"So, if you were to quit, run for your life and press yourself into the deepest, darkest crevice you can find and then stay there. I'll let you live whatever kind of life you can make for yourself when I start running things, think about it Aran, those powers can be pretty lucrative, especially in the worlds I plan on making."

He turned to me once again, and I steeled myself as he approached, his eyes boring into me and eating up my courage like a lion stuffing its face with steak. I braced myself and met his gaze trying to replace my fear with anger as I forced myself to meet his eyes.

"Or, you can play hero, run to Warfang and make as many powerful friends as you want, you may get strong, maybe even as strong as me, but if you stand in my way, I won't just kill you, I'll make sure you regret every second of this war, you think what I was gonna do to Nara was bad? There are far worse things than death when you deal with power like this."

"Doesn't matter," I reply, wanting desperately to look away from him. "I may not win this fight, but I can sure as hell make it hard on you, so yeah, I'm heading to Warfang, I"m gonna get stronger, and I'm gonna be there when you show up outside, and when you do, I'm gonna take that knife of yours and shove it up your a**." I snarled.

The two of us made eye contact, only for a second, but that was long enough to show him that I meant what I said.

Klein sighed, and for a moment I saw the frustration in his expression, but it was quickly covered up by another smile. "Oh well, 'least it's more fun this way." He walked back to the edge of the cliff, peering over it again.

"If that's the way you wanna do this, fine with me, just know when this is all over that I gave you the chance to walk away."

I gulped, already regretting my decision, but swallowed my fear, refusing to let it show, I couldn't shake the feeling that I had just signed up to be thrown headfirst into hell.

"But for now…" He raised an eyebrow as he looked back to me, "You'll have to be satisfied with the bulls**t bully act I've got planned for you."

He looked back over the cliff again before suddenly snickering to himself.

"Ha! Oh, that's good, I love it." He waved me over to him, and despite my better judgment, I approached the cliff, standing next to him and peering over the edge.

My heart leaped into my throat.

At the bottom of the cliff, I could see bodies, oh God, so many…

They spread across the valley, the corpses dragons, cheetahs, and several other species I couldn't recognize in various states of death. I couldn't tear my gaze from the scene, it was as if my eyes were intent on identifying every perverse detail, so intent that I didn't realize Klein had moved out of my line of sight until it was too late.

"You wanna side with these freaks?" Kleins voice came from behind me, I spun around to see Klein lifting a leg up.

"You can die with 'em too!"

His foot crashed into my chest with all of the impact of a shotgun blast, and despite the fact I was dreaming, I felt the air vacate my lungs as I fell for a few short seconds before feeling myself hit the ground.

* * *

"GAH!"

I shot up, my breath heavy and my eyes coated with sleep. God I hoped these dreams weren't going to be a recurring thing, I attempted to stand and was rewarded with the ceiling smacking into my head, I groaned, rubbing my eyes and then my head.

"Right, still in a cage," I muttered in annoyance. "That's the third time I've done that…"

The sound of the town soon met my ears, reminding me of my situation. Five days…. Five whole days here and not a single thing had changed, every day it was wake up, eat, and find some way to pass the time until Fennah either showed up with my next meal or stuck around to talk.

I groaned and slowly sat up as the ever-present pain in my body appeared once again to vex me. My wounds were healing faster than they should have, if I had made that discovery several days ago I may have been surprised, but now? I could only sigh as I healed wounds that should have taken weeks to disappear in a matter of days.

I absent-mindedly thumped one of the scars, feeling a dull ache emanate from it, if I had to guess, I didn't have more than two days before I would be healthy enough to start traveling once again. However, despite my health, I felt like absolute crap, I was dirty, uncomfortable and never wanted a shower more in my life than I did right now. I was pretty sure I smelled bad enough that even fungus would be too scared to come near me.

I was miserable, but I was smart enough to know not to complain, I was given food, water, and a bucket to do my 'business' in, even if I didn't know her motives, Fennah was a saint, those small favors were a relief beyond comprehension. I ate every last scrap of food and always drained every last drop I was given, always thanking my caretaker for it when I was done.

I was alive, and I had to make myself be grateful for it, not after my little episode a few days ago, I had made a decision, one that I knew I had to fulfill if I wanted any chance of survival. That meant making progress with this "aether" stuff, and _that_ meant I needed a way out of this cage. After that, I need a teacher, someone who knew how to use this power and what exactly it was.

Spyro.

I didn't know how the dragon would react to me in general, let alone when I told him I was capable of using power only he and an evil dragon overlord that was supposed to be dead could only use. He had a reputation as a hero, which had my hopes up, but I felt like I could be barbequed as easily as I could be accepted by him. The purple dragon was number three on my list of important dragons now, alongside Nara at number one and Malefor at number two.

"Mr. Monster!" A high-pitched voice called.

"Oh, God." I moaned, "Here we go."

Within moments a single, red-furred cheetah cub appeared in front of the bars of my cage, his face lit up with excitement.

"Hi, Ren." I forced myself to smile at him, ever since I gave his ball back to him, he started lingering around my cell, the third day he had built up the courage to talk to me, and I had made the mistake of talking back. Now the kid wouldn't leave me _alone_.

"What'cha doing?" He asked.

"Not much," I replied, gesturing to my rather sparse accommodations.

Ren looked at me funny for a moment before his short attention span dragged him to a new topic.

"Do you like being in there?" He asked.

I look at him, my eyebrow raised.

"Not really, no."

He looked confused cocking his head as he sat down in front of the bars.

"Then why don't you leave?"

"I can't."

"Why?"

"Nara is here."

Ren looked away for a moment, silently pondering my answer.

"But couldn't you stay with Ms. Nara outside of the cage?"

"No," I reply bitterly.

"Why not?"

"The chief won't let me."

"Why?"

"Because he doesn't want me to hurt anyone."

"Are you a monster?" He whispered, as if he was scared the word would turn me into one.

I looked at him grumpily before shrugging, "What do you think?"

Ren smiled. "Yeah!"

My frown deepened, I suppose I did look like a monster to the cheetahs, but it still hurt to be called one.

"A nice monster!"

"Nice monster?" I asked, curious about what he meant.

"Big sis Fennah said you beat a whole bunch of bad monsters to save Ms. Nara!" Ren smiled brightly, "And...and you gave me my ball back and you may act all grumpy, but you always talk to me when I want to talk and sometimes you say nice things!"

I gave Ren a bit of a funny look, the kid had a weird way of saying things, but this was different, it felt... good, I guess. I mentally shrugged, resolving to take what I could get in regards to moral support. I give him a small smile, one that he notices and returns with a sharp-toothed grin.

"Thanks, kid."

He cocked his head slightly, still smiling, I could tell he had no idea how he had helped me, but he was happy to have helped at all.

"Well, it appears that you have found a new pet, Ren."

I looked past Ren to see Fennah approaching once again, a mirthful smile on her face.

"Hilarious," I said sarcastically, giving her a dull smile, " Your sense of humor is improving, I can tell."

Fennah playfully kicked the gate of the cell, "Well, if my _sparkling_ sense of humor cannot bring a smile to your faces maybe _this_ will: Nara is awake."

I felt my heart skip a beat.

"MISS NARA"S AWAKE!" Ren hopped in place and ran off, leaving the two of us to watch as he weaved through the legs of the townspeople.

Fennah gave a short laugh, watching as the boy disappeared into the crowd.

"That cub thinks the world of that dragon." She turned to me, "It's not surprising he took to you so quickly, he was always curious about what was outside the walls, you're just another chance to learn about the outside world."

I do not reply, my thoughts raced as I combed over what needed to happen next, there was only one way to progress from here.

"Aran? I thought hearing this news might have served to lighten your spirits, was I wrong?"

"Not at all." I reply, looking at her intently. "But if she's awake, I need you to talk to your father for me, _please_."

The huntress frowned, "What for?

I felt impatience burn through my body like an unscratchable itch, every part of me wanting to get out of this cell, to be able to walk on two feet once again rather than living in the dirt.

"I need to get out of this cage."

* * *

*Hand breaks out of soil, followed by the rest of me as I desperately crawl out of a shallow grave.*

I LIVE!

So... another chapter down, sorry for the wait, life hits hard sometimes and pastimes such as this have to take a backseat. Also this one was a bit difficult to write, but moving on to the next chapter should allow me to re-energize the ol' plot-making gears inside my head.

Thanks for Reading!


	11. Chapter 10: Proof

**Chapter 10: Proof.**

"She wants to see you."

I met Prowlus' eyes from behind the bars of my cell, my expression one of impatience.

"Am I correct to assume you desire to see her as well?" The chief asked, his eyes studying me as I nodded quietly.

Fennah had delivered my request to be released to her father, but it had been hours before he had finally shown up here to respond to me. Though I felt like I had a better chance of being stuck in here for the rest of the day than being let out, I was happy at least to know Nara was up and wanting to see me.

Prowlus' frown deepened, his countenance practically screaming distrust as he produced something out of a pocket in his clothes. My eyes drifted to his hand, in it was the dagger Nara had given me, the very same one that the chief had given her as a sign of trust.

He kneeled in front of the cage, resting one arm on his knees as he held the dagger up for me to see.

"Do you know what this is?" He spoke with surprising softness.

I nodded again.

"Do you know what it means for my hunters to have found it in your hands?"

I was about to nod once more but was stopped as he held up his paw.

"Speak." He commanded.

"I was told it was a request for your help," I replied neutrally, unsure where he was going with the conversation.

Prowlus gave a nod of his own, seeming thoughtful but still frowning as he danced the dagger through the fingers of his hand. He paused, studying the dagger. "I gave this dagger to Narania Stonescale after she saved my son. To return it to me was in many ways a request to allow the trust I have placed on her extend to you."

"I assume that there is a reason why you didn't do as she asked?" I eyed the dagger in his hand with some hesitation, memories of rage and bloodlust resurfacing in my mind.

The Cheetah gave a grunt of annoyance, his eyes locking onto mine with almost predatory intent.

"You were found covered in the remains of the servants of Malefor, Narania was found near-death not twenty strides away. It could have been just as likely that you stole this from her when you were both caught by the shadow-apes and tried to flee while they set upon her."

I nod in acknowledgment, "But that wasn't the story Nara told you."

Prowlus sighed, "Indeed, she has given me no small amount of grief when he had heard how you had been treated, but I hold the safety of my pack above all else, even above boons such as these. Still, my daughter appears to think highly of you, my son, on the other hand, believes that he should have left you in the pile of bones that he found you in."

I bring up a mental image of Fennah's brother in my head, a blue cheetah slightly smaller than his father, he hadn't said very much to me the first time we met, but I had gotten the idea that he did not like me very much.

"Whether or not you are aware of this, you bear a somewhat sparse resemblance to a race guilty of many crimes against this pack and many others, and while you appear not to be an ape, there is no denying the fact that since you have arrived, the shadow apes, creatures thought long-dead, have begun to probe our borders under the cover of night."

I flinched, Fennah hadn't said anything about that.

"There are few who do not know of those monsters and the master they serve, and their howls have shaken even the bravest of my people during the night. Many refuse to enter the forest now, fearful of becoming prey to those undead monsters. My hunters can only bring so many kills in from the valley before we endanger Avalar's population as a whole, many believe that you are the cause of this."

"I am not," I say firmly, looking at him with false confidence.

Prowlus looked intently at me, trying to find any indication that I might be lying, upon finding none, he continued.

"Then I am to believe you told the truth about having no intention of harming anyone here?"

"Yes."

Prowlus gripped the bar of my cell, causing me to flinch backward as he stared at me intently, by my guess attempting to weed out any sign of a lie in my face, then to my slight discomfort, he sniffed at me.

I recoiled, flinching somewhat as I struggled to hold his gaze, there was no ill-intent in his eyes, no malevolence like Klein's eyes had held. They were the eyes of a leader with everything to lose and not intent to lose it.

"You are an unknown, human, a risk that many of my people would rather see left outside the walls of this town and forbidden to ever return. Were you not traveling with Narania I would not have allowed you the luxury of leaving with your life, simply because you represent a _possible_ threat to my pack. Imagine now what I would do to someone who _is_ a threat."

He stepped back, his eyes still glued to mine, I flinched, but I did not feel the same fear as I had when Klein threatened my life, I still felt numb from everything I had experienced in the past few days, and I wouldn't have been surprised to hear if I was still in shock after all this time.

"In a day's time, a trusted friend of mine will return from Warfang, and I will seek his council in the matter, should he believe you worthy of the trust Narania asks me to give you, I will have you released and your wounds treated."

"And if your friend does not?" I asked, concern entering my voice.

"You will stay in this cell until I decide what to do with you."

I shrugged, this was as close as I had ever gotten to freedom, and it wasn't like I had a choice in the matter.

The chief's expression softened as he regarded me cooly.

"Understand that I bear no ill-will towards you, human, but I will not endanger those under my care for a creature I know not about. If you are released it will be because of the trust I place in the dragon and through the word of my daughter. You have done nothing to harm my people but neither have you done anything to help them, it will be by your actions that I decide whether or not you are worth trusting. "

He sighed, his expression becoming sympathetic as he seemed to look at me in a new light.

"I have seen no deceit in you, boy, and Narania has explained to me the loss you have suffered, normally I would disregard this story as the excuses of one seeking charity. But your eyes tell a different story, your scent betrays your grief, human, I will not pretend to understand the full weight of your loss, but I do understand a fraction of it. You have my sympathy, as well as my condolences."

"Thank you, sir." I nodded respectfully.

Prowlus struck me as someone who didn't kid around, he meant what he said, and I knew his threats carried the same genuity as his condolences. Despite that, I still had the notion that he would have taken my head off with the sword at his hip just as easily as he had spoken those words, and yet, I felt oddly comforted. For a moment I felt grief bubble up once more, letting it climb its way up from my stomach and burn my throat as I fought off the tears that struggled to break free from my eyes.

I thought I would break down again at first, and allow myself to look weak in front of someone who I desperately needed to find some kind of mutual respect with,but I couldn't afford any setbacks, and I had promised myself that I would be stronger, that instead of crying I would make it so that I would never need to cry again, and somehow I managed to keep my composure.

"That being said, I will not allow my sympathy to cloud my judgment, I cannot afford to, but for now I can offer this, my friend is a merciful individual, and I see no reason why he would see you as unworthy of release."

Prowlus turned, beginning to walk away.

"Farewell for now, human." He said over his shoulder.

"Goodbye, sir," I replied.

* * *

It wasn't long before the sun began its slow descent in the sky, throwing shadows across the village and causing the townspeople to begin lighting torches along and within the walls. I sighed somewhat impatiently as I watched the villagers from the dark, my thoughts and emotions swirling around in the cell with me. I would have been lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous, I didn't know who this friend was, but with night coming quickly I had to hope he was going to get here soon.

" _Crk!"_

The sound of a dry stick snapping outside of my cell shook me from my thoughts, I looked up to see the silhouette of a cheetah standing in front of my cell.

"Fennah?" I asked, squinting to see through the darkness.

"No." The voice of a young man answered, one that I heard only once before.

"You're…. Claude, right?"

The cheetah stepped forward into the torchlight, revealing his pale blue fir and a piercing gaze almost as potent as his father's. He was staring at me, his expression unreadable as he stared down at me with a somewhat bitter look in his eye.

"Yes, I am." He replied, shifting his gaze between the setting sun and me.

There was a few seconds of silence between us, I nervously looked around and noticed that there was a distinct lack of people near us.

" _Shink!"_

In a split-second of flashing metal, the cheetah drew his sword and brought it down on me.

"Holy shi-!"

The sword sliced through the ropes of my cell, and for a few brief moments, I couldn't do anything but sit there as he grabbed the bars and threw them open. Standing aside as he gestured with his sword for me to step out of the cell.

"Get up."

"W-what are you-"

"Get. Up."

For a moment I felt inclined to do as he said, to leave the cage, but the look in the Cheetah's eye had me unnerved, he was up to something. I had remembered what Prowlus had said, Claude had thought they should have left me in that pile of bones, he thought I was a threat.

"You want to leave or not?" Claude eyed me with disdain. "I'll take you to the edge of the town and let you out."

"What about-"

"My father will have you killed."

My words caught in my throat.

"He lied to you, he means to tell Nara that you died of your wounds and intends to make sure all of us tell the same story."

I froze for a few moments, my thoughts suddenly becoming so scattered that I could barely keep track of them all, but it didn't make sense, why would Prowlus keep me here for so long if he only intended on killing me? I shifted, and in a split second I made eye-contact with the chief's son. His eyes looked into mine with a hate that could only have been born of loss, his face was a wreck of emotions, his mouth pressed into a grim line as his movements became erratic, he was lying.

"You sure it's your father who is lying?" I said as I pressed myself as far back into the cell as possible.

Claude was silent for a moment, I couldn't see his face anymore.

"What was the plan?" I said bitterly. "Walk me to the gate and stab me in the back?" I laugh bitterly.

"And when everyone comes running no one will care enough to question you when you claim I was trying to escape. Not a bad idea, but I'm not that stupid."

It was only a matter of time before this happened, I was the monster here, the _thing_ that had to be caged so that no one would have to look at it or worry about it, with the power I had, I was inclined to agree with this point if view, but my need for freedom had driven me away from such thoughts, I had wanted out of this cage desperately, but ironically enough I'm refusing to leave it.

"No, you aren't are you?"

I saw Claude's hand tighten around the handle of his sword as he stepped closer to the cell.

"You're a smart ape, aren't you?" He growled, I could practically feel murderous intent radiating from him, maybe it would have been a better idea to go along with his plan.

"Smart enough to fool a dragon with your little sob-story, even my father seems to think you deserve freedom. You do not, you deserve to rot with the rest of your damned race, your kind came once before, and you took from us everything you could."

He stopped right outside of my cell.

"You will not take any more from me."

" _Claude?!"_

Fennah's voice rang through the night, her tone one of disbelief and anger.

Claude paused, not facing his sister as she walked into my viewpoint, her hand on her dagger as she slowly approached him.

"What are you doing?"

Claude mumbled something unintelligible, and I saw him fumble with his sword for a moment.

"Leave, Fennah."

The huntress stepped closer, her eyes narrowing as her pace quickened.

"What are you doing Claude?" Fennah repeated, her words more of an accusation than a question.

"What must be done."

"He is not an ape, Claude, he is not the one who took our mother away!"

"You don't know that!" Claude growled, his grip on his sword tighter than ever as he turned to face his sister.

"And yet you do?" Fennah replied. "Father ordered you not to-"

"Father is not in his right mind, Fennah! Look around us! The shadow apes grow closer every day, and this creature sits here, waiting for us to let our guard down so he can slit our throats in our sleep!"

Claude turned back to me, suddenly raising his sword, I didn't hesitate as I threw myself out of the cell as the tip of the sword crashed through the hardened where I had just been. The open sky greeted me with open arms, and for a brief second, I relished the feeling of being free of the cage.

"Damn you!"

I rolled to the side on instinct as Claude's sword slammed into the dirt a half-second later. I stopped on my back just in time to see Claude preparing to strike again.

A reddish blur suddenly tackled Claude to the ground, and I looked to see brother and sister wrestling in the dirt, with Fennah desperately trying to wrench the sword from her brother's hands.

"Get off me! He'll kill us all if don't kill him first!"

"Claude you drunken fool, listen, Aran is not- _agh!"_

Fennah cried out as Claude drove a knee into her ribs, pushing her to the side before he pushed out with both legs, throwing the younger sibling off of him.

"You were a cub, barely able to open your eyes!" Claude roared, I scrambled back, feeling around me for something, _anything_ to defend myself with.

"You didn't see what that, that _beast_ did to her! You weren't made to watch when she begged for death after it…. it….."

My eyes widened as I understood what Claude was implying, just how terrible had these ape-creatures been? Just how well deserved was their curse?

Claude brought his sword down on me once again, with nowhere else to go, I dove between his legs, striking out at him from behind with my foot.

He stumbled forward, cursing as he turned and swung in a wide arc, desperate to end my life.

By now the other Cheetahs had taken notice of what was happening, mothers quickly hid cubs within their homes as a growing crowd began to circle us. I could hear the sound of shouts, some egging the crazed cheetah on, others calling for him to stop.

"I am to be the chief!" Claude swung at me again, narrowly missing me as I managed to get to my feet.

I leaped back as the crazed cheetah attacked twice more his strikes quick and efficient, he had clearly been trained well, but his emotions were making him frantic and hasty, I barely avoided the blows as they cut the air where I once stood in half.

"I must protect the pack, it is my duty, my responsibility!" Another swing, this time cutting into my cheek and sending me stumbling back, I felt my foot hit an exposed root and suddenly I was on the ground again, scrambling backward on my elbows. Claude approached me, murder in his eyes as he raised the sword above his head and prepared to bring it down on me.

"I will do what our father has not the strength to do! What I didn't have the strength to do then!"

Just as the blade began its descent to my head, Fennah slammed into her brother again, calling for help as she attempted to restrain her brother. I found myself pressed up against the side of the cell as I stared helplessly at the two.

"It was not your fault Claude!" Fennah growled, slamming her brother down as he growled in grieved frustration. The sword swung wildly in his hand as he gripped the weapon like a lifeline.

"I will not let them take you away Fennah, he's just waiting to kill us all!" Claude replied, beginning to shake his younger sister off. "You're both too blind to see that he's manipulating you, he's manipulating father, even Nara! Just like that agrotora-damned purple dragon!"

The sound of footsteps drew my gaze away from the struggling siblings, Prowlus, flanked by several other armed cheetahs pushing their way through the crowd like an axe would split wood. Prowlus took in the situation in a matter of seconds before quickly taking control of the scene.

"Keep them away!" Prowlus roared to his men, pointing at the growing crowd, the four cheetahs quickly set to work keeping the crowd away, using their spears as barriers to keep them from getting any closer.

The chief then joined his daughter in restraining Claude, each of them taking a side as Prowlus pried the blade from his son's hand, tossing it aside as he tried to talk some sense into him.

"Claude! Calm yourself boy!"

Claude fought against the two relentlessly, growling and thrashing before finally breaking down, I could hear sobs emanate from him, and as Fennah turned her head to look at her father I noticed her own tears wetting her fur and reflecting the in the firelight.

After a minute or two the once fierce hunter went limp, sobbing as he tried and failed to form words. Prowlus looked at his son, indecision and grief overtaking his features for only a few seconds before his stoic mask reappeared.

"Fennah," Prowlus said after a few moments.

"My chief?" Fennah sniffled, still pinning her brother down.

"Take Claude to our home."

The huntress looked to me, "what about-?"

" _Now."_ The chief growled, looking at me as Fennah cast an apologetic look my way and helped her brother to her feet. The two set off in a random direction, sniffling and breathing heavily as Prowlus looked out into the crowd, the people of the village looked fearful, angry, and confused, everything I had expected them to be when they first saw me.

"Return to your homes!" He ordered, almost immediately the people dispersed, returning to the series of wooden and stone houses, but as they left whispers flew through the air, mixing with the sounds of crickets and disappearing alongside the people as they entered their homes. Once the crowd had dispersed, Prowlus nodded to the other hunters.

"Return to your posts, I will handle him."

The warriors did so without question, one looking back at me uncertainly as they split off in the direction of the closest of the town's walls.

Prowlus turned to me, his face unreadable as he approached me hastily.

"What happened?" He growled to me.

I told him the story as best as I could, being as tactful as possible when I got to the topic of Claude's mother. Prowlus' face grew grim as I told the tale, his eyes growing wearier with every word as I finished the story.

"I should not have trusted him with the knowledge of your freedom." Prowlus sighed. "I knew his hatred for the apes was strong, but I thought he was ready, but this…."

Prowlus looked to me once again, and for a moment I didn't see a stoic chief, I saw a scared father.

"How is he to be my heir when he defies my orders so blatantly, shows such a lack of discipline and fortitude?"

I stayed silent as he looked to my cell, which had collapsed after Claude had run his sword through the top of it.

"I apologize, human, I didn't think him capable of such a thing."

I managed to organize my thoughts long enough to process what he said, what Claude had gone through was something traumatic in of itself. I could only imagine what Prowlus felt knowing his son had gone through _that_.

"We're all under stress, Prowlus." I replied, looking at the brother and sister as they ascended the steps of one of the larger homes. "I suppose going after me was better than going after a shadow ape by himself."

Prowlus gave a small grunt of agreement.

"I assume you intend on seeing Narania?" He eyed me.

"Well," I looked tiredly back at my cell. "Seeing as how you don't have a place to keep me anymore..."

The chief gave a sigh, "It would seem that way, come, you are owed at the very least a chance to talk to her."

Prowlus offered me a hand, which I accepted after some hesitation, he pulled me to my feet with little effort before gesturing for me to follow him. I took a step forward and groaned slightly, my legs suddenly rebelling after having gone so long without use, but after a second or two I began to limp after him, my gait slowly changing to a walking pace a few seconds later.

By now the last of the sun's rays were disappearing behind the town's walls, accentuating the light of the torches as I was led through several clusters of buildings before coming across a long wooden building I assumed to be the medical bay. Prowlus walked forward into the building without pause, only stopping when a female cheetah emerged from inside, the female was clad in robes lined with several pockets that held a variety of plants, I assumed that she was the healer.

The female looked at me curiously before turning back to the chief.

"This is the one who the dragon insists on seeing?" The cheetah asked Prowlus, her answer was a simple nod as she sized me up.

"A strange creature you are indeed, may not be able to fix you…." The cheetah said, circling me before giving a frustrated "hmph."

"Looks like you fixed yourself, that normal?" She asked me.

I shrugged, "it's not common."

She hummed somewhat before sighing, mumbling to herself about something before she waved the two of us inside.

The building was dimly lit by several torches, with the front displaying shelves lined with dozens of jars containing plants and crude surgical tools such as a needle and thread and several rolls of bandages. Beyond that were two rows of beds, four of which seemed to be devoid of mattresses.

And there, at the very end of the building, a green dragon lied upon the cluster of mattresses, her eyes fluttering open as we entered and lighting up with recognition when our eyes met.

She was here.

She was _alive._

I felt my body act on its own as I hurtled down the rows of beds and threw my arms around her neck, shaking somewhat as I felt her lay her head on my shoulder, returning the hug.

We stayed like that for a few moments before Nara chuckled weakly.

"I guess you missed me, huh?"

I gave a muffled "mm-hmm." Before releasing her, stepping back once as I began sniffling.

"You know, I was the one who was supposed to protect you, not the other way around, you're gonna make me lose my pay." Nara smiled, I returned the smile with a slight laugh before suddenly breaking down into tears.

"I-I'm so sorry Nara."

Nara winced as I threw my arms around her again.

"They were there because of me, you almost died because of _me!_ "

"Hey, hey, none of that!" Nara pushed me back with one claw.

"I'm _your_ protector, you big dumb monkey. I protect you, as in, put your life before mine, I may not be doing a very good job at that, but I signed up to watch after you, what happened to me isn't on you, in fact, I distinctly remember telling you to run, not throw yourself at the shadow apes!"

She flicked me on the nose, causing me to yelp.

"Ow! Quit it you overgrown gecko!" I complained.

"Make me, monkey boy!" Nara tittered, moving to flick me again as I stumbled back in an attempt to dodge, tripping over my own feet and tumbling to the floor.

"BALLS!"

The wooden floor made an audible clunking noise as the back of my head smacked into floor, causing the dragon to erupt into laughter. I attempted to glare at her but instead found myself giggling as well as I got to my feet.

"I was under the impression you two only knew each other as acquaintances," Prowlus said quietly, approaching the two of us and folding his arms, Nara regarded him with a mildly annoyed glare, one that she quickly hid as she made eye contact with me once more. "And yet you two bicker like you have been friends for an age."

"I suppose you could say we have a lot in common, Chief." Nara said, looking away from the cheetah as she looked me over, "A good example would be our mutual dislike of cages."

Prowlus was unfazed by Nara's comment, blinking slowly as he turned his head to me.

"I have no intention of explaining my actions to you for a second time Narania, I imprisoned the human because he was an unknown, and that is all I have to say on the matter."

Nara growled, her voice causing even the floorboards to vibrate as she bared her teeth.

"His _name_ is Aran."

Prowlus regarded Nara cooly, and slowly the corners of his mouth upturned into a grim smile as his eyes flicked between us, he chuckled.

"Narania is, at best, an abrasive traveling companion _,_ human, as I'm sure you have realized by now."

Nara gritted her teeth.

"She is brash, irresponsible, inconsiderate,as stubborn as an Earth Dragon can possibly be, and at times her self-confidence can become outright arrogance."

Nara attempted to rise, but winced as her rear left leg gave out from under her, forcing her to lay back down and snarl at the chief.

"Prowlus, you-"

" _But,_ for all of her faults, there are few individuals in the dragon realms I consider to be a better friend, she is kind, protective, and her loyalty to those she calls her friends cannot be overstated. She has helped my clan on multiple occasions and saved the life of my son when I myself had failed to do so. Her skills in combat rival even those of a knight trained by the guardians themselves. To say nothing of her instincts, you would do well to maintain this friendship with her, for she will never forsake you as long as you do not forsake her."

The dragoness opened and closed her mouth as a slight yellowing of her scales under her eyes signified that she was blushing.

I smiled, nodding at the chief as he nodded in return.

"As for you, Narania, this human, Aran as you call him, is as similar to you as he is different, stubborn, foolish, and seems to attract danger at every turn, and yet humble, unwavering in his convictions, and every bit as loyal to you as you are to him."

I felt pride blossom in my chest at Prowlus' compliments.

"That being said, I do not yet trust him."

" _A_ _nd there it is._ " I shrugged mentally.

"This trust does not come from any personal grudge, human, as I have said before, as a leader I will take every precaution to ensure the safety of my clan, and while I believe you when you say you would not harm anyone here willingly, you were still found in a pile of dead shadow apes with a dagger covered in pieces of bone. Unfortunately, Claude's actions tonight have shown me that my own people may not be willing to see past your resemblance to the apes quite yet. You have not yet done anything to earn my people's trust, and seeing as how our relations with the city of Warfang are currently being strained. My people are more distrustful than ever. If you wish to earn these people's respect, you have a lot of work ahead of you."

I sighed, shrugging and bobbing my head from side to side, I'll just have to work hard then.

"Our healer tells me that it will be two weeks before Nara will be healed enough to travel, and another week before she will be in full health, for now, you will be permitted to stay here with Narania under a guard and permitted to roam the town while under escort, if you fail to follow the guards or my orders, attempt anything that would be considered harmful to my people or attempt to leave your escort I will force you to rebuild your cell and you will remain there until Nara returns to full health, am I understood?"

"Yes, sir." I nodded fervently.

"Wait a second." Nara cut in. "Prowlus, you said something about 'Claude's actions tonight,' what does that mean?"

Prowlus grimaced, obviously hesitant to speak about what happened.

"Prowlus, what did Claude do?"

Nara looked over to me expectantly.

"Aran, what did he do?"

I pursed my lips, avoiding eye contact as Prowlus turned and began to walk away.

"Where are _you_ going?!"

"The human will explain." Prowlus said over his shoulder.

"Hey!" I exclaimed indignantly.

Nara turned to me, glaring as she narrowed her eyes.

"Aran, what did he do?"

* * *

Author's Note:

02/11/2020:

Decided to add onto this chapter, didn't like the abrupt way it ended.

I am now trying to put together a steady plot for the story instead of flying by the seat of my pants, I turn 20 in two days so I don't know much about the next update, I'll try to get the chapter up faster than I did the last one, but as always, no promises.

Thanks for reading, if you have any questions about the story don't hesitate to ask them, I'll answer them the best I can.


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